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THE 



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OETICAL WORKS 



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OF 



HENRY KIRKE WHITE 



WITH A MEMOIR 




BOSTON : 
JAMES R. OSGOOD & COMPANY, 

(LATE TICKNOR & FIELDS, AND FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO.) 
187I. 



In Exchange 
Univ. of Virginia. 
AUG 17 A936 



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ADVERTISEMENT. 

These Poems have been carefully corrected, 
and the text has been compared with that of the 
new Aldine edition, from which also the Notes 
added at the end of the volume have been de- 
rived. 

Ajml, 1864. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Memoir op Henry Kirke White . . . . xi 

Preface Ixi 

MISCELLANEOTJS POEMS. 

Clifton Grove 1 

Time 19 

Childhood; Parti 41 

Partn 47 

The Christiad 56 

Lines written on a Survey of the Heavens ... 71 
Lines supposed to be spoken by a Lover at the Grave of 

his Mistress . 73 

My Study 76 

Description of a Summer's Eve 79 

Lines — " Go to the raging sea, and say, * Be still ! * " . 81 

Written in the Prospect of Death 83 

Verses — " When pride and envy, and the scorn " . . 85 

Fragment — " Oh ! thou most fatal of Pandora's train *' . 86 
" Loud rage the winds without. — The wintry 

cloud" 87 

To a Friend in Distress 88 

Christmas Day 90 

Nelsoni Mors .92 

Epigram on Kobert Bloomfield 94 

Elegy occasioned by the Death of Mr. Gill, who was 

drowned in the River Trent, while bathing . . 94 

Inscription for a Monument to the Memory of Cowper . 95 

"I'm pleased, and yet I'm sad'* 96 



VI CONTENTS. 

Page 

Solitude 98 

** If far from me the Fates remove " . . * . . 99 

** Famiy I upon thy breast I may not he ! " . . . 99 
Fragments — "Saw'st thou that light? exclaimed the 

youth, and paused : " 100 

" The pious man " 101 

" Lo ! on the eastern summit, clad in gray " . , 101 

" There was a little bird upon that pile; '* . . 101 

" pale art thou, my lamp, and faint*' . . 102 

" give me music — for my soul doth faint; " . 103 

" And must thou go, and must we part? " . . 103 

"Ah! who can say, however fair his vie w^** . . 104 

" HushM is the lyre — the hand that swept" . . 104 

" When high romance p'er every wood and stream " 105 

" Once more, and yet once more," » . . . 105 

Fragment of an Eccentric Drama 106 

To a Friend 112 

Lines on reading the Poems of Warton . . . .114 

Fragment — " The western gale," 115 

Commencement of a Poem on Despair .... 118 

The Eve of Death 120 

Thanatos 121 

Athanatos 123 

Music 124 

On being confined to School one pleasant Morning in 

Spring 126 

To Contemplation 127 

My own Character 130 

Lines written in Wilford Churchyard . . . .132 

Verses — " Thou base repiner at another's joy," . . 135 

Lines — " Yet, ah ! thy arrows are too keen, too sure : " . 136 
Lines — "Yes, my stray steps have wander' d, wander'd 

far" 136 

The Prostitute 139 

ODES. 

To my Lyre 141 

To an early Primrose ....... 143 



CONTENTS. Vii 

Page 

Ode addressed to H. Fuseli, Esq. R. A 144 

To the Earl of Carlisle, K. G 147 

To Contemplation 150 

To the Genius of Romance ...... 156 

To Midnight 157 

To Thought 158 

Genius . . 160 

Fragment of an Ode to the Moon 163 

To tlie Muse 165 

To Love 166 

On WTiit-Monday 167 

To the Wind, at Midnight 169 

To the Harvest Moon 169 

To the Herb Rosemary 172 

To the Morning 173 

On Disappointment 176 

On the Death of Dermody, the Poet . . . . • 179 

SONNETS. 

To the River Trent 181 

Sonnet — " Give me a cottage on some Cambrian wild," 181 
Sonnet supposed to have been addressed by a Female 

Lunatic to a Lady 185 

Sonnet supposed to be written by the unhappy Poet Der- 
mody in a Storm 18c 

The Winter Traveller 18f 

Sonnet — " Ye whose aspirings court the muse of lays," 18^. 

Eecantatory, in Reply to the foregoing elegant Admonition 18. 
On hearing the Sounds of an -^olian Harp . . .18' 
Sonnet — "What art thou, Mighty One! and where thy 

seat?" 18' 

To Capel Lofft, Esq 18 

To the Moon 188 

Written at the Grave of a Friend 188 

To Misfortune . 18& 

Sonnet *~ " As thus oppressed with many a heavy care," 190 

To April . . •••... 190 



vm 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Sonnet — •* Ye unseen spirits, whose wild melodies," . 191 

To a Taper 192 

To my Mother 192 

Sonnet— " Yes, 't will be over soon. This sickly dream " 193 

To Consumption 193 

Sonnet — " Thy judgments. Lord, are just;" . . . 194 

Sonnet — *' When I sit musing on the chequered past " . 195 

Sonnet — " Sweet to the gay of heart is Summer's smile " 195 

Sonnet — " Quick o'er the wintry waste dart fiery shafts '* 196 

BALLADS, SONGS, AND HYMNS. 



Gondoline 

A Ballad — " Be hushed, be hushed, ye bitter winds,' 

The Lullaby of a Female Convict to her Child, the 

previous to Execution .... 

The Savoyard's Return 

A Pastoral Song 

Melody — " Yes, once more that dying strain " 
Additional Stanza to a Song by Waller 

The Wandering Boy 

Canzonet — " Maiden ! wrap thy mantle round thee 
Song — " Softly, softly blow, ye breezes," 
The Shipwrecked Solitary's Song to the Night 

The Wonderful Juggler 

Hymn — " Awake, sweet harp of Judah, wake " 
A Hymn for Family Worship .... 

The Star of Bethlehem 

Hymn — " Lord, my God, in mercy turn " . 



Night 



197 
209 

210 
211 
212 
213 
214 
215 
216 
217 
219 
221 
224 
225 
226 
227 



TRIBUTARY VERSES. 



Eulogy on Henry Kirke White, by Lord Byron . . 229 

Sonnet on Henry Kirke Wliite, by Capel Lofft . . 230 

Sonnet occasioned by the Second of H. K. White, by the 

same 231 

Written m the Homer of Mr. H. K. White, by the same . 232 



CONTENTS. ix 

Page 
To the Memory of H. K. White, by the Rev. W. B. 

Collyer, A.M 233 

Sonnet to H. K. White, on his Poems, by Arthur Owen, 

Esq. 235 

Sonnet, on seeing another written to H, K. White, by the 

same 236 

Reflections on Reading the Life of the late H. K. White, 

by William Holloway 237 

On the Death of Henry Kirke White, by T. Park . . 239 
Lines on the Death of Henry Kirke White, by the Rev. J. 

Plumptre 239 

To Henry Kirke White, by H. Welker .... 240 
Verses occasioned by the Death of H. K. White, by Josiah 

Conder 241 

On Reading H. K. White's Poem oh Solitude, by the same 243 

Ode on the late Henry Kirke White, by Juvenis . . 244 

Sonnet in Memory of Henry Kirke White, by J. G. . 245 

Lines on the Death of Henry Kirke White . . . 240 

Sonnet to H. K. White, on his Poems, by G. L. C. . . 247 

To the Memory of Henry Kirke White, by a Lady . . 248 
Stanzas supposed to have been written at the Grave of 

Henry KJrke White, by a Lady 251 



MEMOIR OF HENRY KIRKE WHITE. 

BY SIR HARRIS NICOLAS. 

Thine, Henrt, is a deathless name on earth, 

Thine amaranthine wreaths, new pluck' d in Heaven ! 

By what aspiring child of mortal birth 

Could more be ask'd, to whom might more be given ? 

TOWNSEND. 

It has been said that the contrasts of light and 
shade are as necessary to biography as to painting, 
and that the character which is radiant with genius 
and virtue requires to be reheved by more common 
and opposite qualities. Though this may be true as 
a principle, there are many exceptions ; and the 
life of Henry Kirke White, whose merits were 
unalloyed by a single vice, is one of the most 
memorable. The history of his short and melan- 
choly career, by Mr. Southey, is extremely popular ; 
and when it is remembered that its author is one of 
the most distinguished of living writers, that as a 
biographer he is unrivalled, and that he had access 
to all the materials which exist, it would be as vain 
to expect from the present Memoir any new facts, 
as it would be absurd to hope that it will be more 



Kll MEMOIR OF KIlilvE WHITE. 

worthy of attention than the imperishable monu- 
ment which his generous friend has erected to his 
memory. 

There is, however, nothing inconsistent with this 
admission, in presuming that a Life of the Poet 
might be written almost as interesting as the one 
alluded to, and without the writer assuming to him- 
self any unusual sagacity. As Mr. Southey's nar- 
rative is prefixed to a collection of all Kirke White's 
remains, in prose as well as in verse, his letters are 
inserted as part of his works, instead of extracts 
from them being introduced into the Memoir. This 
volume will, on the contrary, be confined to his 
Poems; and such parts of his letters as describe 
liis situation and feelings at particular periods will 
be introduced into the account of his life. Indeed, 
so frequent are the allusions to himself in those 
letters as well as in his poems, that lie may be al- 
most considered an autobiographer ; and the writer 
who substitutes his own cold and lifeless sketch for 
the glowing and animated portrait which these 
memorials of genius afford, must either be deficient 
in skill, or be under the dominion of overweening 
vanity. 

Few who have risen to eminence were, on the 
paternal side at least, of humbler origin than 
Henry Kirke White. His father, John White, 
was a butcher at Nottingham ; but his mother, who 
bore the illustrious name of Neville, is said to have 
belonged to a respectable family in Staffordshire. 



MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. Xlll 

He was born at Nottingham on the 21st of March, 
1785 ; and in his earliest years indications /were 
observed of the genius for which he was afterwards 
distinguished. In his poem " Childhood," he has 
graphically described the little school where, between 
the age of three and five, he 

" enter' d, though with toil and pain, 
The low vestibule of learning's fane." 

The venerable dame by whom he was 

"inured to alphabetic toils," 

and whose worth he gratefully commemorates, had 
the discernment to perceive her charge's talents, and 
even foretold his future celebrity : 

'* And, as she gave my diligence its praise, 
Talk'd of the honour of my future days." 

If he did not deceive himself, it was at this [)eriod 
that his imagination became susce[)tible of })octic 
associations. Speaking of the eagerness with which 
he left the usual sports of children to listen to tales 
of imaginary woe, and of the effect which they pro- 
duced, he says, 

" Beloved moment ! then 'twas first I cauglit 
The first foundation of romantic thought ; 
Then first I shed bold Fancy's thrilling tear, 
Then first that Poesy charmed mine infant ear. 
Soon stored with much of legendary lore. 
The sports of childhood charmed my soul no more ; 
Far from the scene of gaiety and noise, 
Far, far from turbulent imd empty joys, 



XIV MEMOIR OF KIRKE AV^IIITE. 

I hied me to the thick overarching shade, 

And there, on mossy carpet, listless laid ; 

Wliile at my feet the rippling runnel ran, 

The days of wild romance antique I'd scan ; 

Soar on the wings of fancy through the air, 

To realms of light, and pierce the radiance there." 

The peculiar disposition of his mind, having thus 
early displayed itself, every day added to its force. 
Study and abstraction were his greatest pleasures, 
and a love of reading became his predominant pas- 
sion. " I could fancy," said his eldest sister, " I see 
him in his little chair with a large book upon his 
knee, and my mother calling, ' Henry, my love, 
come to dinner,' which was repeated so often with- 
out being regarded, that she was obliged to change 
the tone of her voice before she could rouse him." 

At the age of six he was placed under the care 
of the Rev. John Blanchard, who kept the best 
school in Nottingham, where he learnt writing, 
arithmetic, and French ; and he continued there 
for several years. During that time two facts are 
related of him which prove the precocity of his 
talents. When about seven, he was accustomed to 
go secretly into his father's kitchen and teach the 
servant to read and write ; and he composed a tale 
of a Swiss emigrant, which he gave her, being too 
diifident to show it to his mother. In his eleventh 
year he wrote a separate theme for each^of the 
twelve or fouiteen boys in his class; and the excel-* 
lence of the various pieces obtained his master's 
applause. 



MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. • XV 

Henry was destined for his father's trade, and 
the efforts of his mother to change that intention 
were for some time fruitless. Even while he was 
at school, one day in every week, and his leisure 
hours on the others, were employed in carrying 
meat to his father's customers ; but a dispute be- 
tween his father and his master having caused him 
to be removed from school, one of the ushers, from 
malice or ignorance, told his mother that it was. 
impossible to make her son do any thing. The per- 
son who reported so unfavourably of his abilities, 
little knew that he had then given ample evidence 
of his talents, in some poetical satires which his 
treatment at school had provoked, but which he 
afterwards destroyed. 

Soon after he quitted Mr. Blanchard's school he 
was intrusted to Mr. Shipley, who discovered his 
pupil's abilities, and relieved his friends' uneasiness 
on the subject. His earliest production that has 
been preserved was written in his thirteenth year, 
" On being confined to School one pleasant Morn- 
ing in Spring," in which a schoolboy's love of 
liberty, and his envy of the freedom of a neighbour- 
ing wren, are expressed with plaintive simplicity. 

About this time a slight improvement took place 
in his situation. His mother, to whom he was in- 
debted for all the happiness of his childhood, opened 
a day school, and, as it abstracted her from the 
grovelling cares of a butcher's shop, his home was 
made much more comfortable ; and, instead of being 



XVI . MEMOIR OF KlllKE WHITE. 

confined to Lis father's business, he was placed in 
a stocking loom, with the view of bringing him up 
to the trade of a hosier, the poverty of his family 
still precluding the hope of a profession. 

It may easily be believed that this occupation ill 
agreed with the aspirations of his mind. From his 
mother he had few secrets, and in lier ear he 
breathed his ^disgust and unhappincss. " He could 
not bear," he said, " the idea of S])ending some 
years of his life in shining and folding up stock- 
ings ; " he wanted " something to occupy his brain, 
and he should be wretched if he continued longer 
at this trade, or indeed in any thing, except one of 
the learned professions." For a year these remon- 
strances were ineffectual ; but no i)ersuasions, even 
when urged with maternal tenderness, could recon- 
cile him to his lot. He sought for consolation with 
the Muses, and wrote an " Address to Contempla- 
tion," in which he describes his feelings : 

" Wliy along 
The dusky track of commerce should I toil. 
When, with an easy competence content, 
I can alone be happy; where, witli thee, 
I may enjoy the loveliness of Nature, 
And loose the wings of fancy ! Thus alone 
Can I partake of happiness on earth; 
And to be happy here is man's chief end. 
For to be happy he must needs be good." 

There are few obstacles that perseverance will 
not overcome ; and penury and a parent's obstinacy 
were both surmounted by Kirke Wliitc's importu- 



MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. xvii 

iiity. Finding it useless to chain him longer to the 
liosier's loom, he was placed in the office of Messrs. 
Coldham and Enfield, Town -Clerk and attorneys 
of Nottingham, some time in May, 1799, when he 
was in his fifteenth year ; but as a premium could 
not be given with him, it was agreed that he should 
serve two years before he was articled. A few 
months after he entered upon his new employment, 
he began a correspondence with his brother, Mr. 
Neville White, who was then a medical student hi 
London ; and in a letter, dated in September, 1799, 
he thus spoke of his situation and prospects ; 

" It is now nearly four months since I entered 
into Mr. Coldham's office ; and it is with pleasure 
I can assure you, that I never yet found any thing 
disagreeable, but, on the contrary, every thing I 
do seems a pleasure to me, and for a very obvious 
reason, — it is a business which I like — a business 
which I chose before all others ; and I have two 
good-tempered, easy masters, but who will, never- 
theless, see that their business is done in a neat 
and proper manner." — "A man that understands 
the law is sure to have business ; and in case J 
have no thoughts, in case, that is, that I do not 
aspire to hold the honourable place of a barrister, 
I shall feel sure of gaining a genteel livelihood at 
the business to which I am articled." 

At the suggestion of his employers, he devoted 
the greater part of his leisure to Latin ; and, tliough 
lie was but shghtly assisted, he was able in ten 



XVIU MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. 

months to read Horace with tolerable facility^ and 
had. made some progress in Greek. Having but 
little time for these pursuits, he accustomed himself 
to decline the Greek nouns and verbs during his 
walks to and from the office, and he thereby 
acquired a habit of studying while walking, thai 
never deserted him. The account which Mr. Sou- 
they has given of his application, and of the success 
that attended it, is astonishing. Though living with 
his family, he nearly estranged himself from their 
society. At meals, and during the evenings, a 
book was constantly in his hands ; and as he re- 
fused to sup with them, to prevent any loss of 
time, his meal was sent to him in his little a[)art- 
ment. Law, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, and 
Portuguese, chemistry, astronomy, electricity, draw- 
ing, music, and mechanics, by turns engaged his 
attention ; and though his acquirements in some of 
those studies were very superficial, his proficiency 
in many of them was far from contemptible. His 
papers on law evince so much industry, that had 
that subject alone occupied his leisure hours, his 
diligence would have been commendable. He was 
a tolerable Italian scholar, and in the classics he 
afterwards attained reputation ; but of the sciences 
and of Spanish and Portuguese, his knowledge was 
not, it may be inferred, very great. His ear for 
music was good, and his passionate attachment to 
it is placed beyond a doubt by his verses on its 
efiects : 



MEMOIR OF KIKKE WHITE. XIX 

" With her in pensive mood I long to roam 
At midnight's hour, or evening's calm decline, 
And thoughtful o'er the falling streamlet's foam, 
In calm Seclusion's hermit-walks recline. " 

But he checked his ardour, lest it might interfere 
with more essential studies : and his musical attain- 
ment? were limited to playing pleasingly on the pi- 
ano, composing the bass to the air at the same time. 
Ambition was one of the most powerful feehngs of 
his nature, and it is rare indeed, when it is not the 
companion of great talents. It developed itself lirst 
in spurning trade ; and no sooner did he find him- 
self likely to become an attorney, than he aspired to 
the bar. But his earliest and strongest passion was 
for literary distinction ; and he was scarcely remov- 
ed from the trammels of school, before he sought 
admission into a literary society, in his native town. 
His extreme youth rendered him objectionable ; but, 
after repeated refusals, he at last succeeded. In the 
association there were six professors, and being, on 
the first vacancy, appointed to the chair of hterature, 
he soon justified the choice. Taking "genius" as 
his theme, he addressed the assembly in an ex- 
temporaneous lecture of two hours and three-quai*- 
ters duration, with so much success, that the audience 
unajiimously voted him their thanks, declaring that 
" the society had never heard a better lecture deliv- 
ered from the cluiir which he so much honoured." 
To judge properly of this circumstance, it would be 
necessary to know of whom the society was com- 



XX MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. 

posed ; but with so flattering a testimony to his abili- 
ties, the sanguine boy naturally placed a high esti- 
mate on them. 

The establislmient of a Magazine called the 
Monthly Preceptor, which proposed prize themes 
for young persons, afforded Kirke White an oppor- 
tunity of trying his literary powers. In a letter 
written in June, 1800, to his brother, speaking of 
that work he says, " I am noticed as worthy of 
commendation, and as affording an encouraging 
prospect of future excellence. You will laugh. I 
liave also turned poet, and have translated an Ode 
of Horace into English verse." His productions 
gained him several of the prizes ; and he soon after- 
wards became a contributor to the Monthly Mirror, 
his compositions in which attracted the attention of 
]Mr. Hill, the proprietor of the work, and of Mr. 
Capel Lofft, a gentleman who distinguished himself 
by his patronage of Bloomfield. 

Though on entering an attorney's office the bar 
was the object of his hopes, a constitutional deaf- 
ness soon convinced him that he was not adapted 
for the duties of an advocate ; and his thoughts, 
from conscientious motives, became directed to the 
Clmrcli. 

AVhen about fifteen, his mind was agitated by 
doubt and anxiety on the most important of all 
subjects ; and the chaos of opinions which exten- 
sive and miscellaneous reading so often produces 
on ardent and imaginative temperaments, is well 



MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. XXI 

described in his little poem entitled, "My own 
Character," wherein he represents himself as a 
prey to the most opposite impressions, and as being 
in a miserable state of incertitude : 

" First I premise it's my honest conviction, 
That my breast is the chaos of all contradiction, 
Religious — deistic — now loyal and warm, 
Then a dagger-drawn democrat hot for reform ; 



Now moody and sad, now unthinking and gay, 
To all points of the compass I veer in a day." 

In this sketch there is evidently much truth; and 
it affords a striking idea of a plastic and active 
mind, on which every thing makes an impression, 
where one idea follows another in such rapid suc- 
cession, that the former is not so entirely removed, 
but that some remains of it are amalgamated with 
its successor. A youth whose intellect is thus 
tossed in a whirlpool of conflicting speculations, 
resembles a goodly ship newly launched, which, 
until properly steadied by ballast, reels from side 
to side, the sport of every undulation of the waters. 
About this time young White's religious feelings 
were strongly affected by the conversion of his 
friend, Mr. Almond, whose opinions were previ- 
ously as unsettled as his own. To escape the rail- 
lery with which he expected White would assail 
him on learning the change in his sentiments, Al- 
mond avoided his society; and when his friend 
offered to defend his opinions, if Henry would 
allow the divine originality of the Bible, he ex- 



XXU MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. 

claimed, " Good God ! you surely regard me in a 
worse light than I deserve." The discussion that 
followed, and tlie perusal of Scott's " Force of 
Truth," which Ahnond placed in his hands, induced 
him to direct his attention seriously to the subject ; 
but an affecting incident soon afterwards sliowed 
how deeply he was then influenced by religious 
considerations. On the evening before Mr. Al- 
mond left Nottingham for Cambridge, he was re- 
quested by Wliite to accompany him to his apart- 
ment. The moment they entered, Henry burst 
into tears, declaring that his anguish of mind was 
insupportable ; and he entreated Almond to kneel 
and pray for him. Their tears and supplications 
were cordially mingled, and when they were about 
to separate, Wliite said, " What must I do ? You 
are the only friend to whom I can appl}^ in this 
agonizing state, and you are about to leave me. 
My literary associates are all inclined to deism. I 
have no one with whom I can communicate." 

It is instructive to learn to what circumstance 
such a person as Kirke White was indebted for 
the knowledge " which causes not to err." This 
information occurs in a letter from him to a Mr. 
Booth, in August, 1801 ; and it also fixes the date 
of the happy change that influenced every thought 
and every action of his future Hfe, wliich gave the 
energy of virtue to his exertions, soothed the asper- 
ities of a temper naturally impetuous and irritable, 
and enabled him, at a period when manhood is full 



MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. XXUl 

of hope and promise, to view tlie approaches of 
death with the cahnness of a philosopher, and the 
resignation of a saint. 

After thanking Mr. Booth for the present of 
Jones's work on the Trinity, he thus describes his 
religious impressions previous to its perusal, and 
th<: effect it produced : 

"^ Religious polemics, indeed, have seldom formed 
a part of my studies ; though whenever I happened 
accidentally to turn my thoughts to the subject of 
the Protestant doctrine of the Godhead, and com- 
pared it with Arian and Socinian, many doubts in- 
terfered, and I even began to think that the more 
nicely the subject was investigated, the more per- 
plexed it would appear, and was on the point of 
forming a resolution to go to heaven in my own 
way, without meddling or involving myself in the 
inextricable labyrinth of controversial dispute, when 
I received and perused this excellent treatise, which 
finally cleared up the mists which my ignorance had 
conjured around me, and clearly pointed out the 
real truth." 

From the moment he became convinced of the 
truths of Christianity, all the enthusiasm of his 
nature was kindled. The ministry only, was deemed 
worthy of his ambition ; and he devoted his 
thoughts to the sacred office with a zeal that justified 
a hope of the richest fruits. In a letter to his 
friend, Mr. Almond, in November, 1803, he says, 

"My dear friend, I cannot adequately express 



XXIV MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. 

what I owe to you on the score of religion. I told 
Mr. Robinson you were the first instrument of my 
being brought to think deeply on religions subjects ; 
and I feel more and more every day, that if it had 
not been ibr you, I might, most probably, have been 
now buried in apathy and unconcern. Though I 
am in a great measure blessed, — I mean blessed 
with faith, now pretty steadfast, and heavy convic- 
tions, I am far from being hap})y. My sins have 
been of a dark hue, and manifold: I liave made 
Fame my God, and Ambition my shrine. I have 
placed all my hopes on the things of this world. 
I have knelt to Dagon ; I have worshipped the evil 
creations of my own proud heart, and God had well 
nigh turned his countenance from me in wrath ; per- 
haps one step further, and he might have shut me 
for ever from his rest. I now turn my eyes to 
Jesus, my Saviour, my atonement, with hope and 
confidence : he will not repulse the imploring peni- 
tent ; his arms are open to all, they are open even 
to me ; and in return for such a mercy, what can I 
do less than dedicate my whole life to his service ? 
My thoughts would fain recur at intervals to my 
former delights ; but I am now on my guard to re- 
strain and keep them in. I know now where they 
ought to concentre, and with the blessing of God, 
they shall there all tend. 

"My next pubHcation of poems will be solely 
religious. I shall not destroy those of a different 
nature, which now lie before me ; but they will, 



MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. XX^ 

most probably, sleep in my desk, until, in the good 
time of my great Lord and Master, I shall receive 
my passport from this world of vanity. I am now 
bent on a higher errand than that of the attainment 
of poetical fame ; poetry, in future, will be my re- 
liixation, not my employment. — Adieu to literary 
ambition ! ' You do not aspire to be prime minister,' 
said Mr. Robinson ; ' you covet a far higher charac- 
ter — to be the humblest among those who minister 
to their Maker.'" 

To the arguments of his friends on the impolicy 
of quitting a profession to which he had given so 
much of his time, and on the obstacles to the attain- 
ment of his wishes, he was impenetrable. His em- 
ployers generously offered to cancel his articles as 
soon as he could show that his resources were 
likely to support him at the University. Friends 
arose as they became necessary, and more than one 
or two persons exerted themselves to promote his 
views ; but his principal rehance was on the sale of 
a little volume of Poems, which, at the suggestion of 
Mr. Capel Lofft, he prepared for the press. 

The history of an author's first book is always 
interesting, and Kirke White's was attended with 
unusual incidents. A novice in literature often 
imagines that it is important his work should be 
dedicated to some person of rank ; and the Countess 
of Derby was applied to, who declined, on the 
ground that she never accepted a compliment of 
that nature. He then addressed the Duchess oi 



XXVI MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. 

Devonshire ; and a letter, with the manuscript, was 
left at her house. The difficulty of obtaining access 
to her Grace proved so great, that more than one 
letter to his brother was written on the subject, in 
which he indignantly says, " I am cured of patron- 
age hunting ; as for begging patronage, I am tired 
to the soul of it, and shall give it up." Permission 
to inscribe the book to the Duchess was at length 
granted: the book came out in 1803; and a copy 
was transmitted to lier, of which, however, no notice 
whatever was taken. 

On the publication of the volume, a copy was 
sent to each Review, with a letter deprecatory of 
the severity of criticism, an act as ill judged as it 
was useless, since all that a young writer could 
properly say was to be found in the preface, in 
which he stated that his inducement to publish was, 
" the facihtation through its means of those studies 
which, from his earliest infancy, have been the 
principal objects of his ambition, and the increase 
of the capacity to pursue these incUnations, which 
may one day place him in an honourable station in 
the scale of society." 

His feelings received a severe wound from the 
notice of his Poems in the Monthly Eeview, the 
writer of which, not satisfied with saying that the 
production did not "justify any sanguine expecta- 
tions," selected four of the worst hues in support of 
liis opinion, and showed himself insensible of the 
numerous beauties scattered through the various 



MEMOIR OF KIUKE WHITE. XXVU 

pieces. Writing to a friend soon afterwards, he 
thus spoke of himself; and more mental wretched- 
ness has seldom been described : 

" I am at present under afflictions and conten- 
tions of spirit, heavier than I have yet ever experi- 
enced. I think, at times, I am mad, and destitute 
of religion; my pride is not yet ^subdued: the un- 
favourable review (in the ^Monthly') of my un- 
happy work, has cut deeper than you could have 
thought ; not in a literary point of view, but as it 
affects my respectability. It represents me actually 
as a beggar, going about gathering money to put 
myself at college, when my book is worthless ; and 
this v/ith every appearance of candour. They have 
been sadly misinformed respecting me : this review 
goes before me wherever I turn my steps ; it haunts 
me incessantly, and I am persuaded it is an instru- 
ment in the hand of Satan to drive me to dis- 
traction. I must leave Nottingham. If the answer 
of the Elland Society be unfavourable, I purpose 
writing to the Marquis of Wellesley, to offer my- 
self as a student at the academy he has instituted at 
Fort WiUiam, in Bengal, and at the proper age to 
take orders there. The missionaries at that place 
have done wonders already ; and I should, I hope, 
be a valuable labourer in the vineyard. If the 
Marquis take no notice of my application, or do not 
accede to my proposal, I shall place myself in some 
other way of making a meet preparation for the 
holy office, either in the Calvinistic Academy, or in 



XXVlll MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. 

one of the Scotch Universities, where I shall be able 
to live at scarcely any expense." 

The criticism just adverted to was as unfeeling 
as unjust; and but for the generous conduct of a 
distinguished living poet, whose benevolence of 
heart is equal to his genius, it miglit have entirely 
crushed his hopes. Disgusted at the injustice of 
this criticism, Mr. Sou they instantly wrote to White, 
expressing his opinion of the merits of his book, and 
giving him the encouragement and advice which 
none was ever more ready or more able to bestow. 
Thus, an act of cruel folly proved in its conse- 
quences the most beneficial of the Poet's life. His 
spirits were invigorated by this considerate kind- 
ness, and his feelings were expressed in glowing 
terms : 

" I dare not say all I feel respecting your opinion 
of my little volume. The extreme acrimony with 
which the Monthly Review (of all others the most 
important) treated me, threw me into a state of 
stupefaction. I regarded all that had passed as a 
dream, and I thought I had been deluding myself 
into an idea of possessing poetic genius, when, in 
fact, I had only the longing, without the afflatus. 
I mustered resolution enough, however, to write 
spiritedly to them : their answer, in the ensuing 
number, was a tacit acknowledgment that they had 
been somewhat too unsparing in their correction. 
It was a poor attempt to salve over a wound wan- 
tonly and most ungenerously inflicted. Still I was 



MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. XXIX 

damped, because I knew tlie work was very respect- 
able ; and therefore could not, I concluded, give a 
criticism grossly deficient in equity, the more 
especially, as I knew of no sort of inducement to 
extraordinary severity. Your letter, however, has 
revived me, and I do again venture to hope that I 
may still produce something which will survive me. 
With regard to your advice and offers of assistance, 
I will not attempt, because I am unable, to thank 
you for them. To-morrow morning I depart for 
Cambridge ; and I have considerable hope^ that, as 
I do not enter into the University with any sinister 
or interested views, but sincerely desire to perform 
tlie duties of an affectionate and vigilant pastor, and 
become more useful to mankind ; T tlierefore have 
hopes, I say, that I shall find means of support in 
the University. If I do not, I shall certainly act 
in pursuance of your recommendations ; and shall, 
without hesitation, avail myself of your offer's of 
service, and of your directions. In a short time 
this will be determined ; and when it is, I shall take 
the liberty of writing to you at Keswick, to make 
you acquainted with the result. I liave only one 
objection to publishing by subscription, and I con- 
fess it has weight with me ; it is, that, in this step, I 
shall seem to be acting upon the advice so unfeel- 
ingly and contumeliously given by the Monthly 
Reviewers, who say what is equal to this, that had 
I gotten a subscri[)tion for my |)oems before their 
merit was known, I miglit liave succeeded; pro- 



XXX MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. 

vided, it seems, I had made a particular statement 
of my case ; like a beggar who stands with his hat 
in one hand, and a full account of his cruel treat- 
ment on the coast of Barbary in the other, and so 
gives you his penny sheet for your sixpence, by 
way of half purchase, half charity. I have mate- 
rials for another volume; but they were written 
principally while Clifton Grove was in the press, 
or soon after, and do not now at all satisfy me. In- 
deed, of late, I have been obliged to desist, almost 
enurel}^ from converse with the dames of Ilulicon. 
Tlie drudgery of an attoi-ney's o(rice, and the neces- 
sity of pre[)aring myself, in case I should succeed in 
getting to college, in what little leisure I could boast, 
left no room for the flights of the imagination." 

As soon as there wert; reasonable hopes of an 
adequate support being obtiiined for him at Cam- 
bridge, he went to the village of Wilford, for a 
month, to recruit his health, on which intense a])pli- 
cation had made great inroads. Near this place 
were Clifton Woods, the subject of one of his 
Poems, and which had long been his favourite 
resort. Here he fully indulged in that love of the 
beauties of nature, which forms a leading trait in 
the Poetic character : and on this occasion he gave 
full reins to those reveries of the imagination, of the 
delight of which a Poet only is sensible. His lines 
on Wilford Church Yard show the melancholy tone 
of his mind ; and those Verses, as well as his " Ode 
to Disappointment," of which no praise would be 



MEMOIR OF KIKKE WHITE. XXXI 

too extravagant, appear to have been written, on 
learning from his mother, before he left Wilford, 
that the efforts made to place him at Cambridge 
had failed. It was evidently to this circumstance, 
which for the time blighted his aspirations, that he 
alluded, when he says he was, 

'* From Hope's summit hurl'd." 

His remark to his mother on this occasion evinced, 
nevertheless, great energy of mind. His complaints 
were confined to verse, for the disappointment had 
no other effect upon his conduct than to induce him 
to apply to his studies with unprecedented vigour, 
that, since he was to revert to tlie law as a profes- 
sion, he might not be, as he observed, '' a mediocre 
attorney." He read i-cir^ilaily from live in the 
morning until some time after midnight, and occa- 
sionally passed whole nights without lying down ; 
and tlie entreaties, even when accom[)anied by the 
tears of his mother, that he would not thus destroy 
his health, did not induce liini to relax his zeal. 

Symptoms of consumption, the disease to which 
he ultimately became a victim, and which he desig- 
nates, in one of his many allusions to it, as 

" The most fatal of Pandora^s train," 

began now to excite the anxiety of his family. Ill- 
ness was, however, forgotten in the realization of 
the hope dearest to his heart. The exertions of 
••s friends proved successful at a time when all 



XXXll MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. 

expectations had vanished ; and by tlieir united 
efforts it was resolved that he should become a 
sizar of St. John's College, Cambridge, his brother 
Neville, his mother, and a benevolent individual, 
whose name is not mentioned, having agreed to 
contribute to support him. It appears, that if he 
liad not succeeded in that object, he intended to 
have joined the society of orthodox dissenters, for 
which purpose he underwent an examination. 
Though his attainments and character proved sat- 
isfactory on that occasion, Iiis volume of Poems 
rose in judgment against him, and nothing but the 
approbation Mr. Soutliey had expressed of them 
prevented his work from being considered a dis- 
qualification for the ministry. His feelings on the 
prospect of entering the Church are described with 
great force in his letter, dated in April, 1804. 

'' Most fervently do I return thanks to God for 
this providential opening : it lias breathed new ani- 
mation into me, and my bniast exi)ands with the 
prospect of becoming the minister of Clirist where 
I most desired it ; but wliere I almost feared all 
probability of success was nearly at an end. In- 
deed, I had begun to turn my thoughts to the dis- 
senters, as people of whom I was destined, not by 
choice, but necessity, to become the pastor. Still, 
although I knew I should be happy anywhere, so 
that I were a profitable labourer in the vineyard, I 
did, by no means, feel that calm, that indescribable 
satisfaction which I do when I look toward that 



MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. XXXlll 

Church, which I think in the main formed on the 
apostohc model, and from which I am decidedly of 
opinion there is no positive grounds for dissent. 
I return thanks to God for keeping me so long in 
suspense, for I know it has been beneficial to my 
soul, and I feel a considerable trust that the way is 
now about to be made clear, and that my doubts 
and fears on tliis head will, in due time, be re- 
moved." 

Being advised to degrade for a year, and to 
place himself with a private tutor, he went to the 
Rev. Mr. Grainger of Winteringham, in Lincoln- 
shire, in the autumn of 1804. While under tliat 
gentleman's care he studied with such intense fer- 
vour, that fears were excited not for his health only, 
but for his intellect ; and a second severe attack of 
illness was the consequence. Poetry was now laid 
aside, and as he himself told a friend in February, 
1805, 

" My poor neglected Muse has lain absolutely 
unnoticed by me for the last four months, during 
whicli period I have been digging in the mines of 
Scapula for Greek roots, and instead of drinking 
with ea^rer delight the beauties of Virsril have been 
culling and drying his phrases for future use." — 
" I fear my good genius, who was wont to visit me 
with nightly visions in woods and brakes and by 
the river's marge, is now dying of a fen ague, and 
I shall thus probably emerge from my retreat not 
a hare-brained son of imagination, but a sedate 

o 



XXXI V MEMOIR OF KIllKE WHITE. 

black-lettered book worm, with a head like an ety- 
mologicon magnum." 

To Mr. Capel Lofft, in the September following, 
after stating that all his time was employed in ])re- 
paring himself for orders, his estimate of the neces- 
sary qualifications being very high, he observed : 

"I often, however, cast a look of fond regret to 
the darling occupations of my younger hours, and 
the tears rush into my eyes, as 1 fancy I see the 
few wild flowers of poetic genius, with which I have 
been blessed, withering with neglect. Poetry has 
been to me something more than amusement ; it 
has been a cheering companion when I have had 
no other to fly to, and a delightful solace when 
consolation has been in some measure needful. I 
cannot, therefore, discard so old and faithful a friend 
without deep regret, especially when I reflect that, 
stung by my ingratitude, he may desert me for ever ! " 

But the old fire was, he adds, rekindled by look- 
ing over some of his pieces which Mr. Lofft wished 
to print; and he transmitted to that gentleman a 
short Poem, expressive of his sorrow at taking 
leave of his favourite pursuit. The following pas- 
sages could only have arisen from a love of Poetry, 
which it was not in the power of severer studies to 
extinguish : 

Heart-soothing Poesy ! Though thou hast ceased 
To hover o'er the many voiced strings 
Of my long silent lyre, yet thou canst still 
Call the warm tear from its thrice hallowed cell, 



MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. XXXV 

And with recalled images of bliss 
Warm my reluctant heart. Yes, I would throw, 
Once more would throw, a quick and liurried hand 
O'er the responding chords. It hath not ceased, 
It cannot, will not cease ; the heavenly warmth 
Plays round my heart, and mantles o'er my cheek; 
Still, tliough unbidden, plays. Fair Poesy ! 
The summer and the spring, the wind and rain, 
Sunshine and storm, with various interchange, 
Have mark'd full many a day, and week, and month, 
Since by dark wood, or hamlet far retired. 
Spell-struck, with thee I loiter'd. Sorceress ! 
I cannot burst thy bonds I 

In October, 1805, Kirke Wliite became a resident 
member of St. John's College, Cambridge ; and 
sueli wari tiie use he had made of his time at Win- 
teringham, tliat he was distinguished for his clas- 
sical Riiovvledge. But he had dearlj purchased his 
superiority. His constitution was much shattered 
when he went to Mr. Grainger, and eYerj day 
brought with it new proofs that his career had 
nearly readied its bounds. The only chance of 
prolonging his life was to seek a milder climate, 
and to abandon study entirely. As in all great 
minds, Fame was, however, dearer to him tlian 
existence. He felt that every thing connected with 
his future prospects was at stake ; and he adhered 
to a course of rigorous apphcation until nature 
gave way. During his first term he became a 
candidate for one of the University scholarships ; 
but the increased exertion he underwent was at- 
tended by results that obliged him to retire from 



XXXVl MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. 

the contest. At this moment the general college 
examination approached, and thinking that if he 
failed his hopes would be blasted for ever, he 
taxed his energies to the uttermost, during the 
fortnight which intervened, to meet the trial. 
His illness, however, speedily returned ; and, with 
tears in his eyes, he informed his tutor, Mr. Catton, 
that he could not go into the Hall to be examined. 
Tiiat gentleman, whose kindness to the Poet en- 
titles his name to respect, urged him to support 
himself during the six days of the examination. 
Powerful stimulants were administered, and he was 
pronounced the first man of his year. The triumph, 
complete and exhilarating as it was, too clos(dy re- 
sembled that of the generous steed, who, in dis- 
tancing his competitors, reaches the goal, and dies ; 
and his own ideas of the sacrifices with which such 
an honour must be attended were very poetical. 
He said to an intimate friend, almost the last time 
he saw him, that were he to paint a [>icture of 
Fame crow^nhig a distinguished undergraduate 
after the senate-house examination, he would repre- 
sent her as concealing a death's head under a mask 
of beauty. 

Soon after this event, Kirke White went to 
London, and on Christmas eve he wrote to his 
mother from town, stating that his health had been 
rather affected by study, that he came to London 
for amusement, and that his tutor had, in the kind- 
est manner, relieved his mind from pecuniary cares, 



MEMOIR OF KIKKE WHITE. XXXVU 

and clieered him with the assurance that his talents 
would be rewarded by his College. But it is from 
his letters to his friend Mr. Maddock that the real 
state to which excitement and labour had reduced 
him, is to be learnt, because, to allay the fears of his 
relations, he represented himself to them, as being 
much better than he actually was : 

London, Christmas, 1805. 
" I wrote you a letter, which now lies in my 
drawer at St. John's ; but in such a weak state of 
body, and in so desponding and comfortless a tone 
of mind, that I knew it would give you pain, and 
therefore I chose not to send it. I have indeed 
been ill ; but thanks to God, I am recovered. , My 
nerves were miserably shattered by over applica- 
tion, and the absence of all that could amuse, and the 
presence of many things which weighed heavy upon 
my spirits. When I found myself too ill to read, 
and too desponding to endure my own reflections, 
I discovered that it is really a miserable thing to 
be destitute of the soothing and supporting hand 
when nature most needs it. I wandered up and 
down from one man's room to another, and from 
one College to another, imploring society, a little 
conversation, and a little relief of the burden which 
pressed upon my spirits ; and I am sorry to say, 
that those who, when I was cheerful and lively, 
sought my society with avidity, now, when I 
actually needed conversation, were too busy to 



XXXVlll MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. 

grant it. Our College examination was then ap- 
proaching, and I perceived with anguish that I had 
read for the university scholarship until I had barely 
time to get up our priv^ate subjects, and that as I 
was now too ill to read, all hope of getting through 
the examination with decent respectability was at 
an end. This was an additional grief. I went to 
our tutor, with tears in my eyes, and told him I 
must absent myself from the examination, — a step 
which would have precluded me fi'om a station 
amongst the pjize-men until tlie second year. He 
earnestly entreated me to run tlie risk. My sur- 
geon gave me strong stimulants and supporting 
medicines during the examination -week ; and I 
passed, I believe, one of the most respectable 
examinations amongst them. As soon as ever it 
was over, I left Cambridge, by the advice of my 
surgeon and tutor, and I feel myself now pretty 
strong. I have given up the thought of sitting for 
the University scholarship, m consequence of my 
illness, as the course of my reading was effectually 
broken. In this place I have been much amused, 
and have been received with an attention in the lite- 
rary circles which I neither expected nor deserved. 
But this does not affect me as it once would have 
done : my views are widely altered ; and I hope 
that I shall in time learn to lay my whole heart at 
the foot of the cross." 

Early in January following he returned to Cam- 



MEMOIR OF KIIIKE A7HITE. XXXIX 

bridge, and imprudently resumed his old habits of 
study, according to the following plan : '' Rise at 
half-past five ; devotions and walk till seven ; chapel 
and breakfast till eight : study and lectures till one ; 
four and a half clear reading ; walk, &c. and dinner, 
and Wollaston, and chapel to six ; six to nine read- 
ing, three hours; nine to ten devotions ; bed at ten." 
With him, however, exercise was but slight relaxa- 
tion, as his intellectual faculties were kept on the 
stretch during his walks, and he is known to have 
committed to memory a whole tragedy of Euripides 
in this manner, and as they were not less exerted in 
his devotions, his mind must have been intensely 
occupied for twelve or fourteen hours a day, at a 
moment when perfect quiet and rest were indis- 
pensable. Within a very few weeks he paid a 
heavy penalty for his indiscretion. To his friend, 
Mr. Maddock, he wrote on the 17th of February, 
1806: * 

" Do not think I am reading hard ; I believe it is 
all over with that. I have had a recurrence of my 
old complaint w^ithin this last four or five days, 
which has half unnerved me for every thing. The 
state of my health is really miserable ; I am w^ell 
and lively in the morning, and cverwlielmed with 
nervous horrors in the evening. I do not know 
how to proceed with regard to my studies : — a very 
slight overstretch of the mind in the daytime 
occasions me not only a sleepless night, but a night 



xl MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. 

of gloom and horror. The systole and diastole of 
my heart seem to be playing at ball — the stake, 
my life. I can only say the game is not yet 
decided: — I allude to the violence of the palpita- 
tion. I am going to mount the Gog-magog hills 
this morning, in quest of a good night's sleep. The 
Gog-magog hills for my body, and the Bible for 
my mind, are my only medicines. I am sorry to 
say, tliat neither are quite adequate. Cui, igitur ; 
dandum est vitio? Mihi prorsus. I hope, as the 
summer comes, my spirits (which have been with 
the swallows, a winter's journey) will come with it. 
When my spirits are restored, my health will be 
restored : — the ' fons mali ' lies there. Give me 
serenity and equability of mind, and all will be well." 

He, however, rallied again ; but he seems to have 
been aware that his end was not far distant, for in 
March 'he told his brother that though his stay at 
Cambridge, in the long vacation, was important, he 
intended to go to Nottingham for his health, and 
more particularly for his mother's sake ; adding, 
" I shall be glad to moor all my family in the har- 
bour of religious trust, and in the calm seas of 
religious peace. These concerns are apt at times 
to escape me ; but they now press much upon my 
heart, and I think it is my first duty to see that my 
family are safe in the most important of all affairs." 

In April, however, he drew a pleasing picture 
of his future life, in wdiich his filial and paternal 



MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. xli 

tenderness are conspicuous ; but he soon afterwards 
went to Nottingham ; and in a letter to his friend 
Mr. Leeson, written from that town, on the 7th of 
April, he gave a very melancholy account of him- 
self: 

" It seems determined upon, by my mother, that 
I cannot be spared, since the time of my stay is 
so very short, and my health so very uncertain. 
The people here can scarcely be persuaded that 
any thing ails me ; so well do I look ; but occasional 
depressions, especially after any thing has occurred 
to occasion uneasiness, still harass me. My mind 
is of a very peculiar cast. I began to think too 
early ; and the indulgence of certain trains of 
thought, and too free an exercise of the imagination, 
have superinduced a morbid kind of sensibility ; 
which is to the mind what excessive irritability is 
to the body. Some circumstances occurred on my 
arrival at Nottingham, which gave me just cause 
for inquietude and anxiety ; the consequences were 
insomnia, and a relapse into causeless dejections. 
It is my business now to curb these irrational and 
immoderate affections, and, by accustoming myself 
to sober thought and cool reasoning, to restrain 
these freaks and vagaries of the fancy, and redun- 
dancies of fAfXayxoXla. When I am well, I cannot 
help entertaining a sort of contempt for the weak- 
ness of mind which marks my indispositions. Titus 
when well, and Titus when ill, are two distinct 



Klii MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. 

persons. The man, when in health, despises the 
man, when ill, for his weakness, and the latter 
envies the former for his felicity." 

As his health declined his prospects seemed to 
brighten. He was again pronounced first at the 
great College examination ; he was one of the three 
best theme writers, whose merits were so nearly 
equal that the examiners could not decide between 
them ; and he was a prize-man both in the mathe- 
matical and logical or general examination, and in 
Latin com[)osition. His College offered him a 
private tutor at its expense, and Mr. Catton ob- 
tained exhibitions for him to the value of sixty-six 
pounds per annum, by which he was enabled to 
give up the pecuniary assistance he had received 
from his friends. But even at this moment, when 
the world promised so much, his situation was truly 
deplorable. The highest honours of the University 
were supposed to be within his grasp, and the 
conviction that such was the general opinion, 
goaded him on to the most strenuous exertions 
when he was incapable of the slightest. This 
struggle between his mental and physical powers, 
was not, however, of long duration. In July he 
was seized with an attack that threatened his life, 
and which he thus described in a letter to Mr. 
Maddock : 

*' Last Saturday morning I rose early, and got 



MEMOIK OF KIRKE WHITE. xliii 

Up some rather abstruse problems in meclianics for 
mj tutor, spent an hour with him, between eight 
and nine got my breakfast, and read the Greek 
History (at breakfast) till ten, then sat down to 
decipher some logaritlmi tables. I think I had 
not done any thing at them, when I lost myself. 
At a quarter past eleven my laundress found me 
bleeding in four different places in my face and 
head, and insensible. I got up and staggered 
about the room, and she, being frightened, ran 
away, and told my gyp to fetch a surgeon. Before 
he came I was sallying out with my flannel gown 
on, and my academical gown over it ; he made me 
put on my coat, and then I went to Mr. Farish's : 
he opened a vein, and my recollection returned. 
My own idea was, that I had fallen out of bed, 
and so I told Mr. Farish at first ; but I afterwards 
remembered that I had been to Mr. Fiske, and 
breakfasted. Mr. Catton has insisted on my con- 
sulting Sir Isaac Pennington, and the consequence 
is, that I am to go through a course of blistering, 
&c. which, after the bleeding, will leave me w^eak 
enough. 

"I am, however, very well, except as regards 
the doctors, and yesterday I drove into the country 
to Saffron Walden, in a gig. My tongue is in a 
bad condition, from a bite which I gave it either in 
my fall, or in the moments of convulsion. My 
nose has also come badly off. I believe I fell 
against my reading-desk. Mj other wounds are 



xliv MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. 

only rubs and scratches on the carpet. I am 
ordered to remit my studies for a wliile, by the 
common advice both of doctors and tutors. Dr. 
Pennington hopes to prevent any recurrence of the 
fit. He thinks it looks towards epilepsy, of the 
horrors of which malady I have a very full and 
precise idea ; and I only pray that God will spare 
me as respects my faculties, however else it may 
seem good to him to afflict me. Were I my own 
master, I know how I should act ; but I am tied 
here by bands which I cannot burst. I know that 
change of place is needful ; but I must not indulge 
in the idea. The college must not pay my tutor 
for nothing. Dr. Pennington and Mr. Parish 
attribute the attack to a too continued tension of 
the faculties. As I am much alone now, I never 
get quite off study, and I think incessantly. I 
know nature will not endure this. They both 
proposed my going home, but Mr. * * did not 
hint at it, although much concerned ; and, indeed, 
I know home would be a bad place for me in my 
present situation. I look round for a resting 
place, and I find none. Yet there is one, which I 
have long too, too much disregarded, and thither I 
must now betake myself. There are many situa- 
tions worse than mine, and I have no business to 
complain. If these afflictions should draw the bonds 
tighter which hold me to my Redeemer, it will be 
well. You may be assured that you have here a 
plain statement of my case in its true colours with- 



MEMOIR OF IvlRKE WHITE. xlv 

out any piilliation. I am now well again, and have 
only to fear a relapse, which I shall do all I can to 
prevent, by a relaxation in study. I have now 
written too much. 

" I am, very sincerely yours, 

" H. K. White. 

" P. S. I charge you, as you value my peace, 
not to let my friends hear, either directly or indi- 
rectly^ of my illness." 

A few weeks afterwards he again directed his 
mother's hopes to a tranquil retreat for his family 
in his parsonage, but said nothing of his illness ; 
and he told Mr. Maddock, in September, 

" I am perfectly well agciin, and have experienced 
no recurrence of the fit : my spirits, too, are better, 
and I read very moderately. I hope that God will 
be pleased to spare his rebellious child ; this stroke 
has brought me nearer to Him ; whom indeed have 
I for my comforter but Him ? I am still reading, 
but with moderation, as I have been during the 
whole vacation, whatever you may persist in think- 
ing. My heart turns with more fondness towards 
the consolations of religion than it did, and in some 
degree I have found consolation." 

But notwithstanding these flattering expressions, 
he appears to have felt that he had but a short time 
to live ; and it was probably about this period that 
he wrote his lines on the '' Prosi)cct of Death," per- 



Xlvi MEMOIR OF KIIIKE WHITE. 

haps one of the most beautiful and affecting com- 
positions in our language : 

" On my bed, in wakeful restlessness, 
1 turn me wearisome; while all around, 
All, all, save me, sink in forget fulness; 
1 only wake to watch the sickly taper 
Which lights me to my tomb. — Yes, 'tis the hand 
Of Death I feel press heavy on my vitals, 
Slow sapping the warm current of existence. 
My moments now are few — the sand of life 
Ebbs fastly to its finish. Yet a Httle, 
And the last fleeting particle wiU fail, 
Silent, unseen, unnoticed, unlamented 
Come then, sad Thought, and let us meditate 
While meditate we ma v. 



1 hoped I should not leave 
The earth without a vestige; Fate decrees 
It shall be otherwise, and I submit. 
Henceforth, world, no more of thy desires ! 
No more of Hope! the wanton vagrant Hope; 
. I abjure all. Now other cares engross me. 
And my tired soul, with emulative haste, 
Lpoks to its God, and prunes its wings for Heaven." 

On the 22nd of September lie wrote to Mr. 
Charlesworth, and his letter indicates the possession 
of higher spirits and more sanguine hopes, than 
almost any other in his correspondence. About the 
end of that month he went to London, on a visit 
to his brother Neville, but returned to College with- 
in a few weeks, in a state that precluded all chance 
of prolonging his existence ; but still he did not 
cease to hope, or rather sought to delude his brother 
into the belief that he should recover ; for in a letter 



MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. xlvii 

addressed to him, which was found in his pocket 
after his decease, dated Saturday, 11th of October, 
he says, 

" I am safely arrived, and in College, but my 
illness has increased upon me much. The cough 
continues, and is attended with a good deal of 
fever. I am under the care of Mr. Farish, and 
entertain very little apprehension about the cough ; 
but my over-exertions in town have reduced me to 
a state of much debility; and, until the cough be 
gone, 1 cannot be permitted to take any strengthen- 
ing medicines. This places me in an awkward 
predicament ; but 1 think I perceive a degree of 
expectoration this morning, which will soon relieve 
me, and then I shall mend apace. Under these 
circumstances I must not expect to see you here at 
present ; when I am a little recovered, it will be a 
pleasant relaxation to me. Our lectures began on 
Friday, but I do not attend them until I am better. 
I have not written to my mother, nor shall I while 
I remain unwell. You will tell her, as a reason, 
that our lectures began on Friday. I know she 
will be uneasy if she do not hear from me, and still 
more so, if I tell her I am ill. 

'' I cannot write more at present than that I ara 
" Your truly affectionate Brother, 

" H. K. White." 

A friend acquainted his brother with his situa- 



xlviii MEMOIR OF KIKKE WHITE. 

tion, who hastened to him ; but when he arrived he 
was dcHrious, and tliough reason returned for a few 
moments, as if to bless him with the consciousness 
that the same fond relative, to whose attachment 
he owed so much, w^as present at his last hour, he 
sunk into a stupor, and on Sunday, the 19th of 
October, 180G, he breathed his last. 

Thus died, in his twenty-second year, Henry 
Kirke Wliite, whose genius and virtues justified 
the brightest hopes, and whose fitness for Heaven 
does not bring the consolation for his untimely fate 
wliich perhaps it ought. It is impossible to refrain 
from anticipating what his talents might have pro- 
duced, had his existence been extended ; and though 
it is extremely doubtful if he were caj)able of worldly 
happiness, there is a sellishness in our nature which 
makes us grieve when those who are likely to in- 
crease our intellectual pleasui'es are hurried to the 
grave. 

In whatever light the character of this unhappy 
youth be contemplated, it is full of instruction. 
His talents were unusually precocious, and their 
variety was as astonishing as their extent. Besides 
the Poetical pieces in this volume, and his scholastic 
attaimnents, his ability was manifested in various 
other ways. His style was remarkable for its 
clearness and elegance, and his correspondence and 
prose pieces show extensive information. To great 
genius and capacity, he united the rarest and more 
imj)ortant gifts of sound judgment and common 



MEMOIR OF KIKKE WHITE. xllX 

sense. It is usually the misfortune of genius to 
invest ordinary objects with a meretricious colour- 
ing, that perverts their forms and purposes, to 
make its possessor imagine that it exempts him 
from attending to those strict rules of moral conduct 
to which others are bound to adhere, and to render 
him neglectful of the sacred assurance that " to 
whom much is given from him will much be re- 
quired." Nature, in Kirke White's case, appears, 
on the contrary, to have determined that she would, 
in one instance at least, prove that high intellec- 
tual attainments are strictly compatible with every 
social and moral virtue. At a very early period 
of his life, religion became the predominant feeling 
of his mind, and she imparted her sober and 
chastened effects to all his thoughts and actions. 
The cherished object of every member of his family, 
he repaid their affection by the most anxious solici- 
tude for their welfare, offering his advice on spiritual 
affairs with impressive earnestness, and indicating, 
in every letter of his voluminous correspondence, 
the greatest consideration for their feelings and 
happiness. For the last six years he deemed him- 
self marked out for the service of his Maker, not 
like the member of a convent, whose duties consist 
only in prayer, but in the exercise of that philan- 
thropy and practical benevolence which ought to 
adorn every parish priest. To qualify himself pro- 
perly for the holy office, he subjected his mind to 
the severest discipline ; and his letters display a 

D 



1 MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. 

rational piety, and an enlightened view of religious 
obligations, that confer much glycate r honour upon 
his name, than his Poetical pieces, whether as proofs 
of talent, or of the qualities of his heait. 

Sucb was Henry Kirke Wliite as he appeared 
to others ; but there are minuter traits of charac- 
ter which no observer can catch, and which the 
possessor must himself dehneate. Though early 
impressed with melancholy, it was not of a mis- 
anthropic nature ; and while despair and disappoint- 
ment were preying on his heart, he was all sweet- 
ness and docihty to others. A consciousness of the 
possession of abilities, and of being capable of better 
things than those which he seemed destined to per- 
form, gives to some of his productions the appear- 
ance of discontent, and of having overrated his 
pretensions. He was, like many youthful poets, 
too fond of complaining of fortune, of supposing 
himself neglected, and of comparing his humble lot 
with tliose situations for which he believed himself 
quahiied ; but these were the lucubrations of his 
earliest years, before he found friends to foster his 
talents. So far, indeed, from having reason to 
lament the indifference of others to his merits, his 
life affords one of the most striking examples in the 
history of genius, that talents when united to moral 
worth, will be rewarded by honours and fame, that 
>bscure bii-th is no impediment to advancement, and 
hat a person of the humblest origin may, by his own 
exertions, become, in the great arena of learning, an 



MEMOIR OF KIUKE WHITE. li 

object of envy even to those of tlie highest rank. It 
is due to him, wliose good sense w^as so remarkable, 
to point out the time in his career to which the 
passages in question refer ; and to add that his 
correspondence, after he entered the University, 
expressed nothing but satisfaction with his lot, and 
a desire to justify the kindness and expectations of 
his patrons. Still, Kirke White was unhappy ; and, 
since no other cause then existed for his mental 
wretchedness, it must be ascribed to a morbid tem- 
perament, induced partly by ill health, and partly 
by constitutional infirmity. The uncertainty of his 
early prospects, and the fear of ridicule if he ex- 
pressed his feehngs, rendered him reserved, and 
made him confine liis tlioughts to his own bosom, 
for he says, 

" When all was new, and life was in its spring, 
I lived an unloved solitary thing; 
E'en then I learnM to bury deep from day 
The piercing cares that wore my youth away ; 

and in a letter to Mr. Maddock, in September, 
1804, he thus spoke of himself : 

"Perhaps it may be that I am not formed for 
friendship, that I expect more than can ever be 
found. Time will tutor me ; I am a singular being 
under a common outside : I am a profound dissem- 
bler of my inward feelings, and necessity has taught 
me the art. I am long before I can unbosom to a 
friend, yet, I think, I am sincere in my friendship ; 
you must not attribute this to any suspiciousness of 



lii MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. 

nature, but must consider that I lived seventeen 
years my own confidant, my own friend, full of 
projects and strange tlioughts, and confiding them 
to no one. I am habitually reserved, and habit- 
ually cautious in letting it be seen that I hide any 
thing." 

None knew better than himself that the aspira- 
tions and feelings of which genius is the parent are 
often found to be inconsistent with felicity ; 

" Oh I hear the plaint by thy sad favourite made, 

His melancholy moan, 
He tells of scorn, he tells of broken vows. 

Of sleepless nights, of anguish-ridden days, 
Pangs that his sensibility uprouse 

To curse his being and his thirst for praise. 
Thou gavest to him witli treble force to feel 

The sting of keen neglect, the rich man's scorn; 
And what o'er all does in his soul preside 

Predominant, and tempers him to steel. 
His high indignant pride." 

Nor was he unconscious that the toils necessary to 
secure literary distinction, when endured by a shat- 
tered frame, are in the highest degree severe. How 
much truth and feeling are there in tlie Lines which 
he wrote after spending a whole night in study, an 
hour when religious impressions force themselves 
with irresistible weight on the exhausted mind : 

" Oh ! when reflecting on these truths sublime. 
How insignificant do all the joys, 
The gauds, and honours of the world appear ! 
How vain ambition ! — Why has my wakeful lamp 
Outw^atched the slow-paced night? — Why on the page, 
The schoolman's laboured page, have I employed 



MEMOIR OF KIKKE WHITE. liii 

The hours devoted by the world to rest, 
And needful to recruit exhausted nature ? 
Say, can the voice of narrow Fame repay 
The loss of health ? or can the hope of glory 
Lend a new throb unto my languid heart, 
Cool, even now, my feverish aching brow, 
Relmne the fires of this deep sunken eye, 
Or paint new colours on this pallid cheek? " 

Wliat a picture of mental suffering does the 
following passage present, and how impressive 
does it become when the fate of the author is re- 
membered : 

" These feverish dews that on my temples hang. 
This quivering lip, these eyes of dying flame ; 
These, the dread signs of many a secret pang — 
These are the meed of him who pants for Fame ! " 

Like so many other ardent students, the night was 
his favourite time for reading ; and, dangerous as 
the habit is to health, what student will not agree 
in his descriptions of the pleasures that attend it ? 

" The night's my own, they cannot steal my night ! 
When evening lights her folding star on high, 
I live and breathe ; and, in the sacred hours 
Of quiet and repose, my spirit flies. 
Free .as the morning, o'er tlie realms of space. 
And mounts the skies, and imps her wing for heaven.'* 

Kirke White's poetry is popular, because it de- 
scribes feehngs, passions, and associations, which 
all have felt, and with which all can sympathize. It 
is by no means rich in metaphor, nor does it evince 
great powers of imagination; but it is pathetic, 
plaintive, and agreeable ; and emanating directly 



liv MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. 

from his own heart, it appeals irresistibly to that of 
his reader. His meaning is always clear, and the 
force and vigour of his expressions are remarkable. 
In estimating his poetical powers, however, it should 
be remembered, that nearly all his Poems were 
written before he was nineteen ; and that they are, 
in truth, but the germs of future excellence, and 
ought not to be criticized as if they were the fruits 
of an intellect on which time and education had 
bestowed their advantages. It is, however, in his 
prose works, and especially in his correspondence, 
that the versatility of his talents, his acquirements, 
liis piety, and his moral excellejice are most con- 
spicuous. 

A question arises with respect to him which, in 
the history of a young Poet, is always interesting, 
but which Mr. Southey has not touched. Abun- 
dance of proof exists in his writings of the suscep- 
tibility of his heart ; but it is not stated that he 
ever formed an attachment. In many of his pieces 
lie speaks with tenderness of a female whom he 
calls Fanny ; and in one of them, from which it ap- 
pears that she was dead, he expresses his regard in 
no equivocal manner ; but there are other grounds 
for concluding that his happiness was affected by 
disappointed affection. To his friend Mr. Maddock, 
in July, 1804, he observed : 

"I shall never, never marry. It cannot, must 
not be. As to affections, mine are already engaged 
as much as they ever will be, and this is one rea- 



MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. Iv 

son why I believe my life will be a life of celibacy. 
I love too ardently to make love innocent, and there- 
fore I say farewell to it." 

With this passage one of his Sonnets singularly 



agrees 



' When I sit musing on the checquer'd past 
(A tei'm much darken' d with untimely woes), 
My thoughts revert to her, for whom still flows 

The tear, though half disowned ; and binding fast 

Pride's stubborn cheat to my too yielding heart, 
I say to her, she robb'd me of my rest, 
When that was all my wealth. 'T is true my breast 

Received from her this wearying, lingering smart ; 

Yet, ah ! I cannot bid her form depart ; 

Though wrong' d, I love her — yet in anger love. 
For she was most unworthy. Then I prove 

Vindictive joy: and on my stern front gleams, 

Throned in dark clouds, inflexible . . . 

The native pride of my much injured heart." 

Was the subject of this Sonnet wholly imaginary, 
or was there some unfortunate story which, for 
sufficient reasons, his biogi-aphers have suppressed ? 
It is true, that in his letters, written at a much 
later period, he speaks of marriage in a manner not 
to be reconciled with the idea that he w^as then 
suffering from recollections of that description ; but 
he may, in the interval of two years, have partially 
recovered from his loss. 

Kirke White was buried in the Church of All 
Saints, Cambridge, but no monument w^as erected 
to him until a liberal minded American, Mr. Francis 
Boott, of Boston, placed a tablet to his memory, with 



Ivi MEMOIR OF KIRKE WHITE. 

a medallion, by Chantrey, with the following inscrip- 
tion, by Professor Smyth, one of his numerous 
friends : 

" Warmed with fond hope and learning's sacred flame, 
To Granta's bowers the youthful Poet came ; 
Unconquered powers the immortal mind displayed, 
But worn with anxious thought, the frame decayed : 
Pale o'er his lamp, and in his cell retired, 
The martyr student faded and expired. 
Oh! genius, taste, and piety sincere, 
Too early lost 'midst studies too severe ! 
Foremost to mourn, was generous Southey seen, 
He told the tale, and showed what White had been, 
Nor told in vain. For o'er the Atlantic wave 
A wanderer came, and sought the Poet's grave; 
On yon low stone he saw his lonely name. 
And raised this fond memorial to his fame.** 



POEMS. 



CLIFTON GEO VE 



DEDICATION. 

To Her Grace fhe Duchess of Devonshire, the 
following trifling effusions of a very youthful Muse 
are, by permission, dedicated by her Graced much 
obliged and grateful Servant, 

HENRY KIRKE WHITE. 
Nottingham. 



PREFACE. 



The following attempts in Verse are laid before 
the Public with extreme diffidence. The Au- 
thor is very conscious that the juvenile efforts of a 
youth, who has not received the polish of Acade- 
mical discipline, and who has been but sparingly 
blessed with opportunities for the prosecution of 
scholastic pursuits, must necessarily be defective 
in the accuracy and finished elegance which mark 
the works of the man who has passed his life in 
the retirement of his study, furnishing his mind 
with images, and at the same time attaining the 
power of disposing those images to the best ad- 
vantage. 

The unpremeditated effusions of a boy, from his 
thirteenth year, employed, not in the acquisition 
of literary information, but in the more active 
business of life, must not be expected to exhibit 
any considerable portion of the correctness of a 
Virgil, or the vigorous compression of a Horace. 



Ixii PREFACE. 

Men are not, I believe, frequently known to be- 
stow much labour on their amusements ; and these 
poems were, most of them, written merely to 
beguile a leisure hour, or to fill up the languid 
intervals of studies of a severer nature. 

Tla^' TO olxetov SQyov ayana, " Every one loves 
his own work," says the Stagirite ; but it was no 
overweening affection of this kind which induced 
this publication. Had the author relied on his own 
judgment only, these Poems would not, in all pro- 
bability, ever have seen the light. 

Perhaps it may be asked of him, what are his 
motives for this publication ? He answers — simply 
these : the facilitation, through its means, of those 
studies which, from his earliest infancy, have been 
the principal objects of his ambition ; and the 
increase of the capacity to pursue those inclinations 
which may one day place him in an honourable 
station in the scale of society. 

The principal Poem in this little collection (Clif- 
ton Grove) is, he fears, deficient in numbers and 
harmonious coherency of parts. It is, however, 
merely to be regarded as a description of a noctur- 
nal ramble in that charming retreat, accompanied 
with such reflections a^ the scene naturally sug- 



PREFACE. Ixiii 

gested. It was written twelve months ago, when 
the Autlior was in his sixteenth year : — the Mis- 
ceUanies are some of them the productions of a very 
early age. — Of the Odes, that " To an early Prim- 
rose " was written at thirteen — the others are of a 
lat(ir date. — The Sonnets are chiefly irregular; 
they have, perhaps, no other claim to that specific 
denomination, than that they consist only of four- 
teen lines. 

Such are the Poems towards which I entreat 
the lenity of the Public. The Critic will doubtless 
find in them much to condemn ; he may likewise 
possibly discover something to commend. Let him 
scan my faults with an indulgent eye, and in the 
work of that correction which I invite, let him 
remember he is holding the iron mace of Criticism 
over the flimsy superstructure of a youth of seven- 
teen ; and, remembering that, may he forbear from 
crushing, by too much rigour, the painted butterfly 
whose transient colours may otherwise be capable of 
affording a moment's innocent amusement. 

H. K. WHITE. 

Nottingham. 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 



CLIFTON GROVE 



A SKETCH. 



Lo ! in the west, fast fades the lingering light, 
And day's last vestige takes its silent flight. 
No more is heard the woodman's measured stroke, 
Which with the dawn from yonder dingle broke ; 
No more, hoarse clamouring o'er the uplifted head, 
The crows assembling seek their wind-rocked bed ; 
Still'd is the village hum — the woodland sounds 
Have ceased to echo o'er the dewy grounds, 
And general silence reigns, save when below 
The murmuring Trent is scarcely heard to flow ; 
And save when, swung by 'nighted rustic late, 
Oft, on its hinge, rebounds the jarring gate ; 
Or when the sheep-bell, in the distant vale, 

1 



If THE rOEMS OF 

Breathes its wild music on the downy gale. 

Now, when the rustic wears the social smile, 

Released from day and its attendant toil, 

And draws his household round their evening (ire, 

Ajid tells the ofttold tales that never tire ; 

Or, where the town's blue turrets dimly rise, 

And manufacture taints the ambient skies. 

The pale mechanic leaves the labouring loom, 

The air-pent hold, the pestilential room, 

And rushes out, impatient to begin 

The stated course of customary sin : 

Now, now iny solitary way I bend 

Where solemn groves in awful state impend, 

And cliffs, that boldly rise above the plain, 

Bespeak, blest Clifton ! thy sublime domain. 

Here lonely wandering o'er the sylvan bower, 

I come to pass the meditative hour ; 

To bid awhile the strife of passion cease. 

And woo the calms of solitude and peace. 

And oh ! thou sacred Power, who rear'st on high 

Thy leafy throne where wavy poplars sigh ! 

Genius of woodland shades ! whose mild control 

Steals with resistless witchery to the soul. 

Come with thy wonted ardour, and inspire 

My glowing bosom with thy hallowed fire. 

And thou, too. Fancy, from thy starry sphere, 

Where to the hymning orbs thou lend'st thine ear, 

Do thou descend, and bless my ravished siglit, 

Veird in soft visions of serene delight. 

At thy command the gale that passes by 



KIRKE AVHITE. 6 

Bears in its whispers mystic harmony. 

Thou wavest thy wand, and lo ! what forms appear ! 

On the dark cloud what giant shapes career ! 

The ghosts of Ossian skim the misty vale, 

And hosts of sylphids on the moonbeams sail. 

Tliis gloomy alcove darkling to the sight, 

Wliere meeting trees create eternal night ; 

Save, when from yonder stream the sunny ray, 

Reflected, gives a dubious gleam of day ; 

Recalls, endearing to my altered mind, 

Times, when beneath the boxen hedge reclined, 

I watched the lapwing to her clamorous brood ; 

Or lured the robin to its scattered food ; 

Or woke with song the woodland echo wild. 

And at each gay response delighted smiled. 

How oft, when childhood threw its golden ray 

Of gay romance o'er every happy day. 

Here, would I run, a visionary boy, 

When the hoarse tempest shook the vaulted sky, 

And, fancy-led, beheld the Almighty's form 

Sternly careering on the eddying storm ; 

And heard, while awe congeal'd my inmost soul, 

His voice terrific in the thunders roll. ' 

With secret joy I viewed with vivid glare 

The voUied lightnings cleave the sullen air ; 

And, as the warring winds around reviled, 

.With awful pleasure big, — I heard and smiled. 

Beloved remembrance ! — Memory which endears 

This silent spot to my advancing years ! 

Here dwells eternal peace, eternal rest, 



4 THE rOEilS OF 

In shades like these to live is to be blessed. 

While happiness evades the busy crov/d, 

In rural coverts loves tlie maid to shroud. 

And thou too, Inspiration, whose wild flame 

Shoots with electric swiftness through the frame, 

Thou here dost love to sit with upturned eye, 

And listen to the stream that murmurs by, 

The woods that wave, the gray owl's silken flight, 

The mellow music of the listening night. 

Congenial calms more welcome to my breast 

Than maddening joy in dazzling lustre dressed. 

To Heaven my prayers, my daily prayers I raise, 

That ye may bless my unambitious days. 

Withdrawn, remote, from all the haunts of strife. 

May trace with me the lowly vale of life. 

And when her banner Death shall o'er me wave. 

May keep your peaceful vigils on my grave. 

Now as I rove, where wide the prospect grows, 

A livelier light upon my vision flows. 

No more above the embracing branches meet, 

No more the river gurgles at my feet. 

But seen deep down the cliff's impending side. 

Through hanging woods, now gleams its silver tide. 

Dim is my upland path, — across the green 

Fantastic shadows fling, yet oft between 

The chequer'd glooms the moon her chaste ray sheds, 

Where knots of bluebells droop their graceful heads, 

And beds of violets, bloommg 'mid the trees, 

Load with waste fragrance the nocturnal breeze. 



KIRKE WHITE. 

Say, why does Man, while to his opening sight 
Each shrub presents a source of chaste delight, 
And Nature bids for him her treasures flow, 
And gives to him alone his bliss to know, — 
Wliy does he pant for Vice's deadly charms ? 
Why clasp the siren Pleasure to his arms ? 
And suck deep draughts of her voluptuous breath. 
Though fraught with ruin, infamy, and death ? 
Could he who thus to vile enjoyment clings 
Know what calm joy from purer sources springs ; 
Could he but feel how sweet, how free from strife, 
The harmless pleasures of a harmless life. 
No more his soul would pant for joys impure. 
The deadly chalice would no more allure, 
But the sweet potion he was wont to sip 
Would turn to poison on his conscious lip. 

Fair Nature ! thee, in all thy varied charms, 
Fain would I clasp for ever in my arms ! 
Thine are the sweets which never, never sate. 
Thine still remain through all the storms of fate. 
Though not for me, 't was Heaven's divine command 
To roll in acres of paternal land. 
Yet still my lot is blest, while I enjoy 
Thine opening beauties with a lover's eye. 

Happy is he, who, though the cup of bliss 

Has ever shunned him when he thought to kiss, 

Wlio, still in abject poverty or pain. 

Can count with pleasure what small joys remain : 



b THE POEMS OF 

Though were his sight conveyed from zone to zone, 
He would not find one spot of ground liis own, 
Yet as he looks around, he cries with glee. 
These bounding prospects all were made for me : 
For me yon waving fields their burden bear, 
For me yon labourer guides the shining share, 
While happy I in idle ease recline. 
And mark the glorious visions as they shine. 
This is the charm, by sages often told, 
Converting all it touches into gold. 
Content can soothe where'er by fortune placed, 
Can rear a garden in the desert waste. 

How lovely, from this hill's superior height. 
Spreads the wide view before my straining sight ! 
O'er many a varied mile of lengthening ground. 
E'en to the blue-ridged hill's remotest bound. 
My ken is borne ; while o'er my head serene 
The silver moon illumes the misty scene, 
Now shining clear, now darkening in the glade, 
In all the soft varieties of shade. 

Behind me, lo ! the peaceful hamlet lies, 
The drowsy god has sealed the cotter's eyes. 
No more, where late the social faggot blazed. 
The vacant peal resounds, by little raised ; 
But locked in silence, o'er Arion's * star 
The slumbering Night rolls on her velvet car : 

♦ The constellation Delphinus. For authority for this appel- 
lation, see Ovid's Fasti, lib. ii. 1. 83. 



KIRKE WHITE. 7 

The church bell tolls, deep sounding down the glade, 

The solemn hour for walking spectres made ; 

The simple ploughboy, wakening with the sound, 

Listens aghast, and turns him startled round. 

Then stops his ears, and strives to close his eyes, 

Lest at the sound some grisly ghost should rise. 

Now ceased the long, the monitory toll. 

Returning silence stagnates in the soul ; 

Save when, disturbed by dreams, with wild affright, 

The deep-mouthed mastiff bays the troubled night ; 

Or where the village alehouse crowns the vale. 

The creaking signpost whistles to the gale. 

A little onward let me bend my way. 

Where tlie moss'd seat invites the traveller's stay. 

That spot, oh ! yet it is the very same ; 

That hawthorn gives it shade, and gave it name : 

There yet the primrose opes its earliest bloom. 

There yet the violet sheds its first perfume. 

And in the branch that rears above the rest 

The robin unmolested builds its nest. 

'T was here, when hope, presiding o'er my breast, 

In vivid colours every prospect dressed : 

'T was here, reclining, I indulged her dreams, 

And lost the hour in visionary schemes. 

Here, as I press once more the ancient seat, 

Why, bland deceiver ! not renew" the cheat ! 

Say, can a few short years this change achieve. 

That thy illusions can no more deceive ! 

Time's sombrous tints have every view o'erspread, 

And thou too, gay seducer, art thou fled ? 



8 THE POEMS OF 

Though vain thy promise, and the suit severe, 
Yet thou couldst guile Misfortune of her tear, 
And oft thy smiles across life's gloomy way 
Could throw a gleam of transitory day. 
How gay, in youth, the flattering future seems , 
How sweet is manhood in the infant's dreams ; 
The dire mistake too soon is brought to light, 
And all is buried in redoubled night. 
Yet some can rise superior to the pain, 
And in their breasts the charmer Hope retain ; 
While others, dead to feeling, can survey. 
Unmoved, their fairest prospects fade away : 
But yet a few there be, — too soon o'ercast ! 
Who shrink unhappy from the adverse blast. 
And woo the first bright gleam, which breaks the 

gloom. 
To gild the silent slumbers of the tomb. 
So in these shades the early primrose blows, 
Too soon deceived by suns and melting snows : 
So falls untimely on the desert waste. 
Its blossoms withering in the northern blast. 

Now passed whate'er the upland heights display, 
Down the steep cliff I wind my devious way ; 
Oft rousing, as the rustling path I beat. 
The timid hare from its accustomed seat. 
And oh ! how sweet this walk o'erhung with wood, 
That winds the margin of the solemn flood ! 
What rural objects steal upon the sight ! 
What rising views prolong the calm delight ! 



KIRKE WHITE. V 

The brooklet branching from the silver Trent, 
The whispering birch by every zephyr bent, 
The woody island, and the naked mead, 
The lowly hut half hid in groves of reed, 
The rural wicket, and the rural stile, 
And frequent interspersed, the woodman's pile. 
Above, below, where'er I turn my eyes. 
Rocks, waters, woods, in grand succession rise. 
High up the clijff the varied groves ascend. 
And mournful larches o'er the w^ave impend. 
Around, what sounds, what magic sounds arise. 
What glimmering scenes salute my ravish'd eyes ! 
Soft sleep the waters on their pebbly bed. 
The woods wave gently o'er my drooping head. 
And, swelling slow, comes wafted on the wind. 
Lorn Progne's note from distant copse behind. 
Still every rising, sound of calm delight 
Stamps but the fearful silence of the night. 
Save when is heard between each dreary rest, 
Discordant from her solitary nest, 
The owl, dull screaming to the wandering moon ; 
Now riding, cloud-wrapped, near her highest noon : 
Or when the wild duck, southering, hither rides. 
And plunges sullen in the sounding tides. 

How oft, in this sequestered spot, when youth 
Gave to each tale the holy force of truth. 
Have I long lingered, while the milkmaid sung 
The tragic legend, till the woodland rung ! 
That tale, so sad ! which, still to memory dear, 



10 THE rOEMS OF 

From its sweet source can call the sacred tear, 

And (lulled to rest stern Reason's harsh control) 

Steal its soft magic to the passive soul. [wind, 

These hallowed shades, — these trees that woo the 

Recall its faintest features to my mind. 

A hundred passing years, with march sublime. 

Have swept beneatli the silent wing of time. 

Since, in yon hamlet's solitary shade, 

Reclusely dwelt the far famed Chfton Maid, 

The beauteous Margaret ; for her each swain 

Confess'd in private his peculiar pain. 

In secret sighed, a victim to despair. 

Nor dared to hope to win the peerless fair. 

No more the Shepherd on the blooming mead 

Attuned to gaiety his artless reed. 

No more entwined the pansied wreath, to deck 

His favourite wether's unpolluted neck. 

But listless, by yon bubbling stream reclined. 

He mixed his sobbings with the passing wind. 

Bemoaned his hapless love ; or, boldly bent. 

Far from these smiling fields a rover went, 

O'er distant lands, in search of ease, to roam, 

A self-willed exile from his native home. 

Yet not to all the maid expressed disdain ; 

Her Bateman lov(^d, nor loved the youth in vain. 

Full oft, low whispering o'er these arching boughs, 

The echoing vault responded to their vows. 

As here deep hidden from the glare of day, 

Enamoured oft, they took their secret way. 



KIKKE WHITE. 11 

Yon bosky dingle, still the rustics name ; 
'T was there the blushing maid confessed her flame. 
Down yon green lane they oft were seen to hie, 
When evening slumbered on the western sky. 
That blasted yew, that mouldering walnut bare, 
Each bears mementos of the fated pair. 

One ove, when Autumn loaded every breeze 
With the fallen honours of the mourning trees. 
The maiden waited at the accustomed bower, 
And waited long beyond the appointed hour, 
Yet Bateman came not ; — o'er the woodland drear 
Howling portentous did the winds career ; 
And bleak and dismal on the leafless woods 
The fitful rains rushed down in sullen floods ; 
The night was dark ; as, now and then, the gale 
Paused for a moment — Margaret listened pale ; 
But through the covert to her anxious ear 
No rusthng footstep spoke her lover near. [why, 
Strange fears now filled her breast, — she knew not 
She sighed, and Bateman's name was in each sigh. 
She hears a noise, — 't is he, — he comes at last, — 
Alas ! 't was but the gale which hurried past : 
But now she hears a quickening footstep sound, 
Lightly it comes, and nearer does it bound ; 
'T is Bateman 's self, — he springs into her arms, 
'T is he that clasps, and chides her vain alarms. 
" Yet why this silence ? — I have waited long. 
And the cold storm has yelled the trees among. 



12 THE POEMS OF 

And now thou 'rt here my fears are fled — yet speak, 
Why does the salt tear moisten on thy cheek ? 
Say, what is wrong ? " Now through a parting cloud 
The pale moon peered from her tempestuous shroud, 
And Bateman's face was seen ; 't was deadly white, 
And sorrow seem'd to sicken in his sight. 
" Oh, speak ! my love ! " again the maid conjured, 
" Why is thy heart in sullen woe immured ? " 
He raised his head, and thrice essay 'd to tell, . 
Thrice from his lips the unfinished accents fell : 
When thus at last reluctantly he broke 
His boding silence, and the maid bespoke : 
" Grieve not, my love, but ere the morn advance 
I on these fields must cast my parting glance ; 
For three long years, by cruel fate's command, 
I go to languish in a foreign land. 
Oh, Margaret ! omens dire have met my view, 
Say, when far distant, wilt thou bear me true ? 
Should honours tempt thee, and should riches fee, 
Wouldst thou forget thine ardent vows to me. 
And on the silken couch of wealth reclined, 
Banish thy faithful Bateman from thy mind ? " 

" Oh ! why," replies the maid, " my faith thus prove, 
Canst thou ! ah, canst thou, then suspect my love ? 
Hear me, just God ! if from my traitorous heart 
My Bateman's fond remembrance e'er shall part. 
If, when he hail again his native shore. 
He finds his Margaret true to him no more, 



KIRKE WHITE. 13 

May fiends of iieil, and every power of dread, 

Conjoiii'd then drag me from my perjured bed, 

And hurl me headlong down these awful steeps, 

To find deserved death in yonder deeps I " * 

Thus spake the maid, and from her finger di*ew 

A golden ring, and broke it quick in two ; 

One half she in her lovely bosom hides. 

The other, trembling, to her love confides. 

" This bind the vow," she said, " this mystic charm 

No future recantation can disarm, 

The right vindictive does the fates involve. 

No tears can move it, no regrets dissolve." 

She ceased. The death-bird gave a dismal cry, 
The river moaned, the wild gale whistled by, ^ 
And once again the lady of the night 
Beliind a heavy cloud withdrew her light. 
Trembling she viewed these portents with dismay ; 
But gently Bateman kissed her fears away : 
Yet still he felt concealed a secret smart, 
Still melancholy bodings filled his heart. 

When to the distant land the youth was sped, 

A lonely life the moody maiden led. [walk, 

Still would she trace each dear, each well known 

Still by the moonlight to her love would talk. 

And fancy, as she paced among the trees. 

She heard his whispers in the dying breeze. 

* This part of the Trent is commonly called " The Clifton 
Deeps." 



14 THE POEMS OF 

Thus two years glided on in silent grief; 

The third her bosom ov^^ned the kind relief: 

Absence had cooled her love — the impoverished flame 

Was dwindling fast, when lo ! the tempter came ; 

He offered wealth, and all the joys of life, 

And the weak maid became another's wife I 

Six guilty months had marked the false one's crime, 

When Bateman hailed once more his native clime. 

Sure of her constancy, elate he came. 

The lovely partner of his soul to claim ; 

Light was his heart, as up the well known way 

He bent his steps — and all his thoughts were gay. 

Oh ! who can paint his agonizing throes. 

When on his ear the fatal news arose ! 

Chilled with amazement, — senseless with the blow, 

He stood a marble monument of woe ; 

Till called to all the horrors of despair, 

He smote his brow, and tore his horrent hair ; 

Then rushed impetuous from the dreadful spot. 

And sought those scenes (by memory ne'er forgot), 

Those scenes, the witness of their growing flame, 

And now like witnesses of Margaret's shame. 

'T was night — he sought the river's lonely shore, 

And traced again their former wanderings o'er. 

Now on the bank in silent grief he stood. 

And gazed intently on the stealing flood, 

Death in his mien and madness in his eye, 

He watch'd the waters as they murmured by ; 

Bade the base murderess triumph o'er his grave — 

Prepared to plunge into the whelming wave. 



KIKKE WHITE. 1^ 

Yet still he stood irresolutely bent ; 
Religion sternly stayed his rash intent. 
He knelt. — Cool played upon his cheek the wind 
And fanned the fever of his maddening mind, 
The willows waved, the stream it sweetly swept, 
The paly moonbeam on its surface slept, 
And all was peace ; — he felt the general calm 
O'er his racked bosom shed a genial balm : 
When casting far behind his streamhig eye, 
He saw the Grove, — in fancy saw her lie. 
His Margaret, lulled in Germain's * arms to rest. 
And all the demon rose within his breast. 
Convulsive now, he clenched his trembling hand. 
Cast his dark eye once more upon the land, 
Then, at one spring he spurned the yielding bank. 
And in the calm deceitful current sank. 

Sad, on the solitude of night, the sound. 

As in the stream he plunged, was heard around : 

Then all was still — the wave was rough no more, 

The river swept as sweetly as before ; 

The willows waved, the moonbeams shone serene. 

And peace returning brooded o'er the scene. 

Now, see upon the perjured fair one hang 
Kemorse's glooms and never ceasing pang. 
Full well she knew, repentant now too late. 
She soon must bow beneath the stroke of fate. 
But, for the babe she bore beneath her breast, 

* Germain is the traditionary name of her husband. 



16 THE POEMS OF 

The offended God prolonged her life unbiest. 

But fast the fleeting moments rolled away, 

And near and nearer drew the dreaded day ; 

That day foredoomed to give her child the light, 

And hurl its mother to the shades of night. 

The hour arrived, and from the wretched wife 

Tlie guiltless baby struggled into life. — 

As night drew on, around her bed a band 

Of friends and kindred kindly took their stand ; 

In holy prayer they pass'd the creeping time. 

Intent to expiate her awful crime. 

Their prayers were fruitless. — As the midnight came 

A heavy sleep oppressed each weary frame. 

In vain they strove against the overwhelming load, 

Some power unseen their drowsy lids bestrode. 

They slept till in the blushing eastern sky 

The blooming Morning oped her dewy eye ; 

Then wakening wide they sought the ravished bed, 

But lo ! the hapless Margaret was fled ; 

And never more the weeping train were doomed 

To view the false one, in the deeps intombed. 

The neighbouring rustics told that m the night 
They heard such screams as froze them with affright 
And many an infant, at its mother's breast. 
Started dismayed, from its unthinking rest. 
And even now, upon the heath forlorn, 
They show the path do^vn which the fair was borne, 
By the fell demons, to the yawning wave, 
Tier own, and murdered lover's, mutual grave. 



KIIIKE WHITE. 17 

Such is the tale, so sad, to memory dear, 

Which oft in youth has charmed my listening ear, 

That tale, which bade me find redoubled sweets 

In the drear silence of these dark retreats ; 

And even now, with melancholy power, 

Adds a new pleasure to the lonely hour. 

'Mid all the charms by magic Nature given 

To this wild spot, this sublunary heaven, 

With double joy enthusiast Fancy leans 

On the attendant legend of the scenes. 

This sheds a fairy lustre on the floods. 

And breathes a mellower gloom upon the woods ; 

This, as the distant cataract swells around. 

Gives a romantic cadence to the sound ; 

This, and the deepening glen, the alley green. 

The silver stream, with sedgy tufts between, 

The massy rock, the wood-encompassed leas. 

The broom-clad islands, and the nodding trees. 

The lengthening vista, and the present gloom, 

The verdant pathway breathing waste perfume : 

These are thy charms, the joys which these impart 

Bind thee, bless'd Clifton ! close around my heart. 

Dear Native Grove ! where'er my devious track, 
To thee will Memory lead the wanderer back. 
Wliether in Amo's polished vales I stray, 
Or where " Oswego's swamps " obstruct the day ; 
Or wander lone, where, wildering and wide. 
The tumbhng torrent laves St. Gothard's side : 

2 



18 THE POEMS OF 

Or by old Tejo's classic margent muse, 
Or stand entranced with Pyrenean views ; 
Still, still to thee, where'er my footsteps roam, 
My heart shall point, and lead the wanderer home. 
When Splendour offers, and when Fame incites, 
I '11 pause, and tliink of all thy dear delights. 
Reject the boon, and, wearied with the change. 
Renounce the wish which first induced to range ; 
Turn to these scenes, these well known scenes once 

more, 
Trace once again old Trent's romantic shore, 
And tired with worlds, and all their bUvsy ways, 
Here waste the little remnant of my days. 
But if the Fates should this last wish deny, 
And doom me on some foreign shore to die ; 
Oh ! should it please the world's supernal King, 
That weltering waves my funeral dirge shall sing ; 
Or that my corse should, on some desert strand, 
Lie stretched beneath the Simoom's blasting hand ; 
Still, though unwept I find a stranger tomb. 
My sprite shall wander through this favourite gloom, 
Ride on the wind that sweeps the leafless grove, 
Sigh on the wood-blast of the dark alcove. 
Sit a lorn spectre on yon well known grave, 
And mix its moanings with the desert wave. 



KIRKE WHITE. 19 



TIME. 

A POEM.* 

Genius of musings, who, the midnight hour 
Wasting in woods or haunted forests wild, 
Dost watch Orion in his arctic tower. 
Thy dark eye fixed as in some holy trance ; 
,0r when the vollied lightnings cleave the air. 
And Ruin gaunt bestrides the winged storm, 
Sitt'st in some lonely watchtower, where thy lamp. 
Faint blazing, strikes the fisher's eye from far. 
And, 'mid the howl of elements, unmoved. 
Dost ponder on the awful scene, and trace 
The vast effect to its superior source, — 
Spirit, attend my lowly benison ! 
For now I strike to themes of import high 
The sohtary lyre ; and, borne by thee 
Above this narrow ceil, I celebrate 
The mysteries of Time ! 

Him who, august. 
Was ere these worlds were fashioned, — ere the sun 
Sprang from the east, or Lucifer displayed 
His glowing cresset in the arch of morn. 
Or Vesper gilded the serener eve. 



* This Poem was begun either during the publication of 
Clifton Grove, or shortly afterwards, but never completed: 
some of the detached parts Vv^ere among his latest productions. 



20 THE POEMS OF 

Yea, He had been for an eternity ! 

Had swept unvarying from eternity 

The harp of desolation — ere his tones, 

At God's command, assumed a milder strain, 

And startled on his watch, in the vast deep. 

Chaos's sluggish sentry, and evoked 

From the dark void the smiling universe. 

Chained to the grovelling frailties of the flesh. 

Mere mortal man, unpurged from earthly dross, 

Cannot survey, with fixed and steady eye. 

The dim uncertain gulf, which now the muse. 

Adventurous, would explore ; but dizzy grown. 

He topples down the abyss. — If he would scan 

The feai'ful chasm, and catch a transient glimpse 

Of its unfathomable depths, that so 

His mind may turn with double joy to God, 

His only certainty and resting place ; 

He must put off awhile this mortal vest. 

And learn to follow, without giddiness. 

To heights where all is vision, and surprise. 

And vague conjecture. — He must waste by night 

The studious taper, far from all resort 

Of crowds and folly, in some still retreat; 

High on the beetling promontory's crest, 

Or in the caves of the vast wilderness, 

\Vliere, compassed round with Nature's wildest shapes. 

He may be driven to centre all his thoughts 

In the great Architect, who lives confessed 

In rocks, and seas, and soHtary wastes. 



KIRKE WHITE. 21 

So has divine Philosophy, with voice 

Mild as the murmurs of the moonhght wave, 

Tutored the heart of him, who now awakes, 

Touching the chords of solemn minstrelsy. 

His faint, neglected song — intent to snatch 

Some vagrant blossom from the dangerous steep 

Of poesy, a bloom of such a hue. 

So sober, as may not unseemly suit 

With Truth's severer brow ; and one withal 

So hardy as shall brave the passing wind 

Of many winters, — rearing its meek head 

In loveliness, when he who gathered it 

Is numbered with the generations gone. 

Yet not to me hath God's good providence 

Given studious leisure,* or unbroken thought. 

Such as he owns, — a meditative man ; 

Who from the blush of morn to quiet eve 

Ponders, or turns the page of wisdom o'er, 

Far from the busy crowd's tumultuous din : 

From noise and wrangling far, and undisturbed 

With Mirth's unholy shouts. For me the day 

Hath duties which require the vigorous hand 

Of steadfast application, but which leave 

No deep improving trace upon the mind. 

But be the day another's ; — let it pass ! 

The night's my own ! — They cannot steal my night ! 

When evening lights her folding star on high, 

I live and breathe ; and in the sacred hours 

* The Author was then in an attorney's office. 



22 THE rOEMS OF 

Of quiet and repose mj spirit flies, 

Free as the morning, o'er the reahns of space, 

And mounts the skies, and imps her wing for Heaven. 

Hence do I love the sober-suited maid ; 

Hence Night's my friend, my mistress, and my theme, 

And she shall aid me now to magnify 

The night of ages, — now when the pale ray 

Of starlight penetrates the studious gloom, 

And, at my window seated, while mankind 

Are locked in sleep, I feel the freshening breeze 

Of stillness blow, while, in her saddest stole, 

Thought, like a wakeful vestal at her shrine, 

Assumes her wonted sway. 

Behold the world 
Rests, and her tired inhabitants have paused 
From trouble and turmoil. The widow now 
Has ceased to weep, and her twin orphans lie 
Locked in each arm, partakers of her rest. 
The man of sorrow has forgot his woes ; 
The outcast that his head is shelterless, 
His griefs unshared. — The mother tends no more 
Her daughter's dying slumbers, but surprised 
With heaviness, and sunk upon her couch. 
Dreams of her bridals. Even the hectic, lulled 
On Death's lean arm to rest, m visions wrapped, 
Crowning with Hope's bland wreath his shuddering 

nurse, 
Poor victim ! smiles. — Silence and deep repose 
Reign o'er the nations ; and the warning voice 



KIRKE WHITE. 23 

Of Nature utters audibly within 

The general moral : — tells us that repose, 

Deathlike as this, but of far longer span, 

Is coming on us — that the weary crowds, 

Who now enjoy a temporary calm. 

Shall soon taste lastmg quiet, wrapped around 

With grave clothes : and their aching restless heada 

Mouldering in holes and corners unobserved. 

Till the last trump shall break their sullen sleep. 

Who needs a teacher to admonish him 

That flesh is grass, that .earthly things are mist ? 

What are our joys but dreams ? and what our hopes 

But goodly shadows in the summer cloud ? 

There 's not a wind that blows but bears with it 

Some rainbow promise : — not a moment flies 

But puts its sickle in the fields of Hfe, 

And mows its thousands, with their joys and cares. 

'T is but as yesterday since on yon stars, 

Whidi now I view, the Chaldee shepherd * gazed 

In his mid watch observant, and disposed 

The twinkling hosts as fancy gave them shape. 

Yet in the interim what mighty shocks 

Have buffeted mankind — whole nations razed — 

Cities made desolate — the poUshed sunk 

To barbarism, and once barbaric states 

Swaying the wand of science and of arts ; 

Illustrious deeds and memorable names 

* Alluding to the first astronomical observations made by the 
Chaldean shepherds. 



24 THE POEMS OF 

Blotted from record, and upon the tongue 
Of gray Tradition, voluble no more. 

Where are the heroes of the ages past ? 

Where the brave chieftains, where the mighty ones 

Wlio flourished in the infancy of days ? 

All to the grave gone down. On their fallen fame 

Exultant, mocking at the pride of man, 

Sits grim Forgetfulness. — The warrior's arm 

Lies nerveless on the pillow of its shame ; 

Hushed is his stormy voice, and quenched the blaze 

Of his red eyeball. — Yesterday his name 

Was mighty on the earth. — To-day — 't is what ? 

The meteor of the night of distant years, 

That flashed unnoticed, save by wrinkled eld, 

Musing at midnight upon prophecies, 

Who at her lonely lattice saw the gleam 

Point to the mist-poised shroud, then quietly 

Closed her pale lips, and lock'd the secret up 

Safe in the charnel's treasures. 

Oh how weak 
Is mortal man ! how trifling — how confined 
His scope of vision ! Puffed with confidence. 
His phrase grows big with immortality, 
And he, poor insect of a summer's day ! 
Dreams of eternal honours to his name ; 
Of endless glory and perennial bays. 
He idly reasons of eternity. 
As of the train of ages, — when, alas ! 
Ten thousand thousand of his centuries 



KIRKE WHITE. 25 

Are, in comparison, a little point 

Too trivial for account. — O, it is strange, 

'Tis passing strange, to mark his fallacies ; 

Behold him proudly view some pompous pile, 

Whose high dome swells to emulate the skies, 

And smile, and say, " My name shall live with this 

TiU time shall be no more ; " while at his feet, 

Yea, at his very feet, the crumbhng dust 

Of the fallen fabric of the other day 

Preaches the solemn lesson. — He should know 

That tune must conquer ; that the loudest blast 

That ever filFd Renown's obstreperous trump 

Fades in the lapse of ages, and expires. 

Who lies inhumed in the terrific gloom 

Of the gigantic pyramid ? or who 

Reared its huge walls ? Oblivion laughs, and says, 

The prey is mine. — They sleep, and never more 

Their names shall strike upon the ear of man, 

Their memory burst its fetters. 

Where is Rome ? 
She lives but in the tale of other times ; 
• Her proud pavilions are the hermit's home. 
And her long colonnades, her public walks. 
Now faintly echo to the pilgrim's feet, 
Who comes to muse in solitude, and trace, 
Through the rank moss revealed, her honoured dust. 
But not to Rome alone has fate confined 
The doom of ruin ; cities numberless. 
Tyre, Sidon, Carthage, Babylon, and Troy, 



26 THE POEMS OF 

And rich Phoenicia — they are blotted out, 
Half razed from memory, and their very name 
And being in dispute. — Has Athens fallen ? 
Is polished Greece become the savage seat 
Of ignorance and sloth ? and shall we dare 



And empire seeks another hemisphere. 
TMiere now is Britain ? — Where her laurelled name? 
Her palaces and halls ? Dashed in the dust. 
Some second Vandal hath reduced her pride, 
And with one big recoil hath thrown her back 

To primitive barbarity. Again, 

Through her depopulated vales, the scream 

Of bloody Superstition hollow rings. 

And the scared native to the tempest howls 

The yell of deprecation. O'er her marts. 

Her crowded ports, broods Silence ; and the cry 

Of the low curlew, and the pensive dash 

Of distant billows, breaks alone the void ; 

Even as the savage sits upon the stone 

That marks where stood her capitols, and hears 

The bittern booming in the weeds, he shrinks 

From the dismaying solitude. — Her bards 

Sing in a language that hath perished ; 

And their wild harps suspended o'er their graves, 

Sigh to the desert winds a dying strain. 



KIRKE WHITE. 27 

Meanwhile the Arts, in second infancy, 

Rise in some distant clime, and then, perchance. 

Some bold adventurer, filled with golden dreams, 

Steering his bark through trackless solitudes. 

Where, to his wandering thoughts, no daring prow 

Hath ever ploughed before, — espies the cliffs 

Of fallen Albion. — To the land unknown 

He journeys joyful ; and perhaps descries 

Some vestige of her ancient stateliness : 

Then he, with vain conjecture, fills his mind 

Of the unheard-of race, which had arrived 

At science in that solitary nook, 

Far from the civil world ; and sagely sighs, 

And morailzej on the state of man. 

Still on its n.aich, unnoticed and unfelt, 

Moves on our being. We do live and breathe, 

And w^e are gone. The spoiler heeds us not. 

We have our springtime and our rottenness ; 

4nd as we fall, another race succeeds. 

To perish like^id^e. — Meanwhile Nature smiles, 

The Seasons run their round, the Sun fulfils 

His annual course — and heaven and earth remain 

Still changing, yet unchanged — still doomed to feel 

Endless mutation in perpetual rest. 

^Vliere are concealed the days which have elapsed ? 

Flid in the mighty cavern of the past. 

They rise upon us only to appall. 

By indistinct ai d half-glimpsed images. 

Misty, gigantic, huge, obscure, remote. 



28 THE POEMS OF 

Oh, it is fearful, on the midnight couch, 

When the rude rushing winds forget to rave. 

And the pale moon, that through the casement high 

Surveys the sleepless muser, stamps the hour 

Of utter silence, it is fearful then 

To steer the mind, in deadly solitude, 

Up the vague stream of probability ; 

To wind the mighty secrets of the past. 

And turn the key of Time ! — Oh ! who can strive 

To comprehend the vast, the awfiil truth. 

Of the eternity that hath gone by, 

And not recoil from the dismaying sense 

Of human impotence ? The life of man 

Is summed in birthdays and in sepulchres ; 

But the Eternal God had no beginning ; 

He hath no end. Time had been with him 

For everlasting, ere the diBdal world 

Rose from the gulf in loveliness. — Like him 

It knew no source, hke liim, 't was uncreate. 

What is it then ? The past Eternity ! 

We comprehend a future without end ; 

We feel it possible that even yon sun 

May roll for ever : but we shrink amazed — 

We stand aghast, when we reflect that time 

Knew no commencement — that, heap age on age 

And million upon million, without end, 

And we shall never span the void of days 

That were and are not but in retrospect. 

The Past is an unfathomable depth. 

Beyond the span of thought ; 't is an elapse 



KIRKE WHITE. 29 

Which hath no mensuration, but hath been 
For ever and for ever. 

Change of days 
To us is sensible ; and each revolve 
Of the recording sun conducts us on 
Further in life, and nearer to our goal. 
Not so with Time, — mysterious chronicler, 
He knoweth not n*utation ; — centuries 
Are to his being as a day, and days 
As centuries. — Time past, and Time to come, 
Are always equal ; when the world began 
God had existed from eternity. 



Now look on man 
Myriads of ages hence. — ^ Hath time elapsed ? 
Is he not standing in the selfsame place 
Where once we stood ? — The same eternity 
Hath gone before him, and is jet to come ; 
His past is not of longer span than ours, 
Though myriads of ages intervened ; 
For who can add to what has neither sum. 
Nor bound, nor source, nor estimate, nor end ? 
Oh, who can compass the Almighty mind ? 
Who can unlock the secrets of the High ? 
In speculations of an altitude 
Sublime as this, our reason stands confessed 
Foolish, and insignificant, and mean. 
Who can apply the futile argument 
Of finite beings to infinity ? 



30 THE POEMS OF 

He might as well compress the universe 

Into the hollow compass of a gourd, 

Scooped out by human art ; or bid the whale 

Drink up the sea it swims in ! — Can the less 

Contain the greater ? or the dark obscure 

Infold the glories of meridian day ? 

What does philosophy impart to man 

But undiscovered wonders ? — Let her soar 

Even to her proudest heights — to where she caught 

The soul of Newton and of Socrates, 

She but extends the scope of wild amaze 

And admiration. All her lessons end 

In wider views of God's unfathomed depths. 

Lo ! the unlettered hind, who never knew 

To raise his mind excursive to the heights 

Of abstract contemplation, as he sits 

On the green hillock by the hedge-row side. 

What time the insect -swarms are murmuring. 

And marks, in silent thought, the broken clouds 

That fringe with loveliest hues the evening sky. 

Feels in his soul the hand of Nature rouse 

The thrill of gratitude, to him who form'd 

The goodly prospect ; he beholds the God 

Throned in the west, and his reposing ear 

Hears sounds angelic in the fitful breeze 

That floats through neighbouring copse or fairy brake, 

Or lingers playful on the haunted stream. 

Go with the cotter to his winter tire. 

Where o'er the moors the loud blast whistles sln^ill. 



KIRKE WHITE. 31 

And the hoarse ban-dog bays the icy moon ; 

Mark with what awe he Hsts the wild uproar, 

Silent, and big with thought ; and hear him bless 

The God tha.t rides on the tempestuous clouds, 

For his snug hearth, and all his little joys : 

Hear him compare his happier lot with his 

Who bends his way across the wintry wolds, 

A poor night traveller, while the dismal snow 

Beats in his face, and, dubious of his path, 

He stops, and thinks, in every lengthening blast, 

He hears some village mastiff's distant howl. 

And sees, far streaming, some lone cottage light ; 

Then, undeceived, upturns his streaming eyes. 

And clasps his shivering hands ; or overpowered, 

Sinks on the frozen ground, weighed down with sleep, 

From which the hapless wretch shall never wake. 

Thus the poor rustic warms his heart with praise 

And glowing gratitude, — he turns to bless. 

With honest warmth, his Maker and his God ! 

And shall it e'er be said, that a poor hind. 

Nursed in the lap of Ignorance, and bred 

In want and labour, glows with nobler zeal 

To laud his Maker's attributes, while he 

Whom starry Science in her cradle rocked, 

And Castaly enchastened with its dews, 

Closes his eyes upon the holy "vord. 

And, bhnd to all but arrogance «tnd pride, 

Dares to declare his infidelity. 

And openly contemn the Lord of Hosts ? 

What is philosophy, if it impart 



32 THE POEMS OF 

Irreverence for the Deity, or teach 

A mortal man to set his judgment up 

Against his Maker's will ? The Poljgar, 

Who kneels to sun or moon, compared with him 

Who thus perverts the talents he enjoys. 

Is the most blest of men ! Oh ! I would walk 

A weary journey, to the furthest verge 

Of the big world, to kiss that good man's hand, 

Wlio, in the blaze of wisdom and of art, 

Preserves a lowly mind ; and to his God, 

Feeling the sense of his own littleness, 

Is as a child in meek simplicity ! 

What is the pomp of learning ? the parade 

Of letters and of tongues ? e'en as the mists 

Of the gray morn before the rising sun. 

That pass away and perish. 

Earthly things 
Are but the transient pageants of an hour ; 
And earthly pride is like the passing flower, 
That springs to fall, and blossoms but to die. 
'T is as the tower erected on a cloud, 
Baseless and silly as the schoolboy's dream. 
Ages and epochs that destroy our pride. 
And then record its downfall, what are they 
But the poor creatures of man's teeming brain ? 
Hath Heaven its ages ? or doth Heaven preserve 
Its stated eras ? Doth the Omnipotent 
Hear of to-morrows or of yesterdays ? 
There is to God nor future nor a past ; 
Throned in his might, all times to him are present ; 



KIRKE WHITE. 33 

He hath no lapse, no past, no time to come ; 
He sees before him one eternal now. 
Time moveth not ! — our being 't is that moves ; 
And we, swift gliding down life's rapid stream, 
Dream of swift ages and revolving years, 
Ordain'd to chronicle our passing days : 
So the young sailor in the gallant bark, 
Scudding before the wind, beholds the coast 
Receding from his eyes, and thinks the while, 
Struck with amaze, that he is motionless. 
And that the land is sailing. 

Such, alas! 
Are the illusions of this proteus life ! 
All, all is false : through every phasis still 
'T is shadowy and deceitful. It assumes 
The semblances of things and specious shapes ; 
But the lost traveller might as soon rely 
On the evasive spirit of the marsh, 
Wliose lantern beams, and vanishes, and flits, 
O'er bog, and rock, and pit, and hollow way, 
As we on its appearances. 

On earth 
There is no certainty nor stable hope. 
As well the weary mariner, whose bark 
Is toss'd beyond Cimmerian Bosphorus, 
Where storm and darkness hold their drear domain, 
And sunbeams never penetrate, might trust 
To expectation of serener skies, 
And linger in the very jaws of death, 
Because some peevish cloud were opening, 

3 



34 thp: poems of 

Or the loud storm had bated in its rage ; 

As we look forward in this vale of tears 

To permanent delight — from some shght glimpse 

Of shadowy, unsubstantial happiness. 

The good man's hope is laid far, far beyond 

The sway of tempests, or the furious sweep 

Of mortal desolation. — He beholds 

Unapprehensive, the gigantic stride 

Of rampant Ruin, or the unstable waves 

Of dark Vicissitude. — Even in death, — 

In that dread hour, when, with a giant pang, 

Tearing the tender fibres of the heart, 

The immortal spirit struggles to be free. 

Then, even then, that hope forsakes him not, 

For it exists beyond the narrow verge 

Of the cold sepulchre. The petty joys 

Of fleeting life indignantly it spurned, 

And rested on the bosom of its God. 

This is man's only reasonable hope ; 

And 't is a hope which, cherished in the breast, 

Shall not be disappointed. Even he. 

The Holy One — Almighty — who elanced 

The rolling world along its airy way, 

Eyen He will deign to smile upon the good. 

And welcome him to these celestial seats. 

Where joy and gladness hold their changeless reign. 

Thou, proud man, look upon yon starry vault, 
Survey the countless gems which richly stud 



KIRKE WHITE. 35 

The night's imperial chariot ; — telescopes 

Will show thee myriads more innumerous 

Than the sea sand ; — each of those little lamps 

Is the great source of light, the central sun 

Round which some other mighty sisterhood 

Of i)lanets travel, every planet stock'd 

With living beings impotent as thee. 

Now, proud man ! now, where is thy greatness fled ? 

WTiat art thou in the scale of universe ? 

Less, less than nothing ! — Yet of thee the God 

Who built this wondrous frame of worlds is careful, 

As well as of the mendicant who begs 

The leavings of thy table. And shalt thou 

Lift up thy thankless spirit, and contemn 

His heavenly providence ! Deluded fool. 

Even now the thunderbolt is winged with death, 

Even now thou totterest on the brink of hell. 

How insignificant is mortal man, 
Bound to the hasty pinions of an hour ! 
How poor, how trivial in the vast conceit 
Of infinite duration, boundless space ! 
God of the universe ! Almighty One ! 
Thou who dost walk upon the winged winds, 
Or with the storm, thy rugged charioteer, 
Swift and impetuous as the northern blast, 
Ridest from pole to pole ; Thou who dost hold 
The forked lightnings in thine awful grasp, 
And reignest in the earthquake, when thy wrath 
Goes down towards erring man, I would address 



36 THE POEMS OF 

To thee my parting psean ; for of Thee, 

Great beyond comprehension, who thyself 

Art Time and Space, sublime Infinitude, 

Of Thee has been my song ! — With awe I kneel 

Trembling before the footstool of thy state, 

My God ! — my Father ! — I will sing to thee 

A hymn of laud, a solemn canticle, 

Ere on the cypress wreath, which overshades 

The throne of Death, I hang my mournful lyre, 

And give its wild strings to the desert gale. 

Rise, Son of Salem ! rise, and join the strain, 

Sweep to accordant tones thy tuneful harp. 

And, leaving vain laments, arouse thy soul 

To exultation. Sing hosanna, sing. 

And halleluiah, for the Lord is great. 

And full of mercy ! He has thought of man ; 

Yea, compass'd round with countless worlds, has 

thought 
Of us poor worms, that batten in the dews 
Of morn, and perish ere the noonday sun. 
Sing to the Lord, for he is merciful : 
He gave the Nubian lion but to live. 
To rage its hour, and perish ; but on man 
He lavished immortality and Heaven. 
The eagle falls from her aerial tower. 
And mingles with irrevocable dust : 
But man from death springs joyful, 
Springs up to hfe and to eternity. 
Oh ! that, insensate of the favouring boon, 
The great exclusive privilege bestowed 



KIRKE WHITE. 37 

On us un^w^ortliy trifles, men should dare 

To treat with sHght regard the proffered Heaven, 

And urge the lenient, but All-Just, to swear 

In wrath, " They shall not enter in my rest," 

Might I address the supplicative strain 

To thy high footstool, I would pray that thou 

Wouldst pity the deluded wanderers, 

And fold them, ere they perish, in thy flock. 

Yea, I would bid thee pity them, through Him, 

Thy well beloved, who, upon the cross, 

Bled a dread sacrifice for human sin. 

And paid, with bitter agony, the debt 

Of primitive transgression. 

Oh ! I shrink, 
My very soul doth shrink, when I reflect 
That the time hastens, when, in vengeance clothed, 
Thou shalt come down to stamp the seal of fate 
On erring mortal man. Thy chariot wheels 
Then shall rebound to earth's remotest caves. 
And stormy Ocean from his bed shall start 
At the appalling summons. Oh ! how dread. 
On the dark eye of miserable man, 
Chasing his sins in secrecy and gloom, 
Will burst the effulgence of the opening Heavcii ; 
When to the brazen trumpet's deafening roar 
Thou and thy dazzling cohorts shall descend, 
Proclaiming the fulfilment of the word ! 
The dead shall start astonished from their sleep ! 
The sepulchres shall groan and yield their prey. 
The bellowing floods shall disembogue their charge 



38 THE POEMS OF 

Of human victims. From the farthest nook 

Of the wide world shall troop their i^sen souls, 

From him whose bones are bleachmg in the waste 

Of polar sohtudes, or him whose corpse, 

Whelm'd in the loud Atlantic's vexed tides, 

Is washed on some Caribbean prominence. 

To the lone tenant of some secret cell 

In the Pacific's vast .... realm, 

Where never plummet's sound was heard to part 

The wilderness of water ; they shall come 

To greet the solemn advent of the Judge. 

Thou first shalt summon the elected saints 

To their apportion'd Heaven ! and thy Son, 

At thy right hand, shall smile with conscious joy 

On all his past distresses, when for them 

He bore humanity's severest pangs. 

Then shalt thou seize the avenging scimitar, 

And, with a roar as loud and horrible 

As the stern earthquake's monitory voice. 

The wicked shall be driven to their abode, 

Down the immitigable gulf, to wail 

And gnash their teeth in endless agony. 



Rear thou aloft thy standard. — Spirit, rear 
Thy flag on high ! — invincible, and throned 
In unparticipated might. Behold 
Eartli's proudest boasts, beneath thy silent sway. 
Sweep headlong to destruction, thou the while, 



KIRKE WHITE. 39 

Unmoved and heedless, thou dost hear the rush 

Of mighty generations, as they pass 

To the broad gulf of ruin, and dost stamp 

Thy signet on them, and they rise no more. 

Who shall contend with Time — un vanquished Time, 

The conqueror of conquerors, and lord 

Of desolation ? — Lo ! the shadows fly, 

The liours and days, and years and centuries ; 

They fly, they fly, and nations rise and fall. 

The young are old, the old are in their graves. 

Heard'st thou that shout ? It rent the vaulted skies ; 

It was the voice of people, — mighty crowds, — 

Again ! 'tis hushed — Time speaks, and all is hushed ; 

In the vast multitude now reigns alone 

Unruffled solitude. They all are still ; 

All — yea, the whole — the incalculable mass. 

Still as the ground that clasps their cold remains. 

Rear thou aloft thy standard. Spirit, rear 

Thy flag on high, and glory in thy strength. 

But do thou know the season yet shall come, 

When from its base thine adamantine throne 

Shall tumble ; when thine arm shall cease to strike, 

Thy voice forget its petrifying power ; 

When saints shall shout, and Time shall be no more. 

Yea, he doth come — the mighty champion comes, 

Whose potent spear shall give thee thy death wound, 

Shall crush the conqueror of conquerors, 

And desolate stern Desolation's lord. 

Lo ! where he cometh ! the Messiah comes ! 



40 THE POEMS OF 

The King ! the Comforter ! the Christ ! — He comes 
To burst the bonds of Death, and overturn 
The power of Time. — Hark ! the trumpet's blast 
Rings o'er the heavens I They rise, the myriads 

rise — 
Even from their graves they spring, and burst the 

chains 
Of torpor, — He has ransom'd them, . . . 

Forgotten generations live again, 
Assume the bodily shapes they owned of old, 
Beyond the flood : — the righteous of their times 
Embrace and weep, they weep the tears of joy. 
The sainted mother wakes, and in her lap 
Clasps her dear babe, the partner of her grave. 
And heritor with her of Heaven, — a flower 
Washed by the blood of Jesus from the stain 
Of native guilt, even in its early bud. 
And, hark ! those strains, how solemnly serene 
They fall, as from the skies — at distance fall — 
Again more loud — the halleluiahs swell ; 
The newly risen catch the joyful sound ; 
They glow, they bum ; and now with one accord 
Bursts forth sublime from every mouth the song 
Of praise to God on high, and to the Lamb 
Who bled for mortals. 



Yet there is peace for man. — Yea, there is peace 
Even in this noisy, this unsettled scene ; 



KTRKE WHITE. 41 

Wlien from the crowd, and from the city far, 
Haply he may be set (in his late walk 
O'ertaken with deep thought) beneath the boughs 
Of honeysuckle, when the sun is gone, 
And with fixed eye, and wistful, he surveys 
The solemn shadows of the Heavens sail, 
And thinks the season yet shall come, when Time 
Will waft him to repose, to deep repose. 
Far from the unquietness of life — from noise 
And tumult far — beyond the flying clouds. 
Beyond the stars, and all this passing scene. 
Where change shall cease, and Time shall be no more. 



CHILDHOO D.* 



A POEM. 



PART I 



Pictured in memory's mellowing glass, how sweet 
Our infant days, our infant joys, to greet ; 
To roam in fancy in each cherished scene, 
The village churchyard, and the village green, 
The woodland walk remote, the greenwood glade. 
The mossy seat beneath the hawthorn shade, 

* This appears to be one of the Author's earliest productions: 
wntten when about the age of fourteen. 



42 THE POEMS OF 

The whitewashed cottage, where the woodbine grew, 
And all the favourite haunts our childhood knew ! 
How sweet, while all the evil shuns the gaze. 
To view the unclouded skies of former days ! 

Beloved age of innocence and smiles, 
When each wing'd hour some new delight beguiles. 
When the gay heart, to life's sweet dayspring true, 
Still finds some insect pleasure to pursue. 
Bless'd Childhood, hail ! — Thee simply will I sing, 
And from myself the artless picture bring ; 
These long-lost scenes to me the past restore. 
Each humble friend, each pleasure now no more, 
And every stump familiar to my sight 
Recalls some fond idea of delight. 

This shrubby knoll was once my favourite seat ; 
Here did I love at evening to retreat. 
And muse alone, till in the vault of night, 
Hesper, aspiring, showed his golden light. 
Here once again, remote from human noise, 
I sit me down to think of former joys ; 
Pause on each scene, each treasured scene, once more, 
And once again each infant walk explore. 
While as each grove and lawn I recognize, 
My melted soul suffuses in my eyes. 

And oh ! thou Power, whose myriad trains resort 
To distant scenes, and picture them to thought ; 
Whose mirror, held unto the mourner's eye, 
Flings to his soul a borrow^ed gleam of joy; 
Bless'd Memory, guide, with finger nicely true. 
Back to my youth my retrospective view ; 



KIRKE WHITE. 43 

Recall with faithful vigour to my mind 
EaoJi face familiar, each relation kind ; 
And all the finer traits of them afford, 
Whose general outline in my heart is stored. 

In yonder cot, along whose mouldering walls 
In many a fold the mantling woodbine falls, 
The village matron kept her little school. 
Gentle of heart, yet knowing well to rule ; 
Staid Avas the dame, and modest was her mien ; 
Her garb was coarse, yet whole, and nicely clean ; 
Her neatly bordered cap, as lily fair. 
Beneath her chin was pinned with decent care ; 
And pendent ruffles, of the whitest lawn. 
Of ancient make, her elbows did adorn. 
Faint with old age, and dim were grown her eyes, 
A pair of spectacles their want supplies ; 
These does she guard secure, in leathern case. 
From thoughtless wights, in some unweeted place. 

Here first I entered, though with toil and pain, 
The low vestibule of learning's fane ; 
Entered with pain, yet soon I found the way. 
Though sometimes toilsome, many a sweet display. 
Much did I grieve on that ill fated morn 
When I was first to school reluctant borne ; 
Severe I thought the dame, though oft she tried 
To soothe my sweUing spirits when I sighed ; 
And oft, when harshly she reproved, I wept. 
To my lone corner broken-hearted crept, [kept. 

And thought of tender home, where anger never 

But soon inured to alphabetic toils, 
Alert I met the dame with jocund smiles ; 



44 THE rOEMS OF 

First at the form, my task for ever true, 

A little favourite rapidly I grew : 

And oft she stroked my head with fond delight, 

Held me a pattern to the dunce's sight ; 

And as she gave my diligence its praise. 

Talked of the honours of my future days. 

Oh ! had the venerable matron thought 
Of all tlie ills by talent often brought ; 
Could she have seen me when revolving years 
Had brought me deeper in the vale of tears, 
Then had she wept, and wished my wayward fate 
Had been a lowlier, an unlettered state ; 
Wished that, remote from worldly woes and strife. 
Unknown, unheard, I might have passed through 
life. 

Where in the busy scene, by peace unblessed. 
Shall the poor wanderer find a place of rest ? 
A lonely mariner on the stormy main. 
Without a hope the calms of peace to gain ; 
Long tossed by tempests o'er the world's wide shore, 
When shall his spirit rest to toil no more ? 
Not till the light foam of the sea shall lave 
The sandy surface of his unwept grave. 
Childhood, to thee I turn, from life's alarms, 
Serenest season of perpetual calms, — 
Turn with delight, and bid the passions cease, 
And joy to think with thee I tasted peace. 
Sweet reign of innocence, when no crime defiles, 
But each new object brings attendant smiles ; 
When future evils never haunt the sight. 
But all is pregnant with unmixed delight ; 



KIRKE WHITE. 45 

To tliee I tnr.n from not and from noise, 
Turn to partake of more congenial joys. 

'Neath yonder elm, that stands upon the moor, 
When the clock spoke the hour of labour o'er, 
Wliat clamorous throngs, what happy groups were 
In various postures scattering o'er the gi-een ! [seen, 
Some shoot the marble, others join the chase 
Of self-made stag, or run the emulous race ; 
While others, seated on the dappled grass. 
With doleful tales the light-winged minutes pass. 
Well I remember how, with gestui-e starched, 
A band of soldiers oft with pride we march'd; 
For banners to a tall ash we did bind 
Our handkerchiefs, flapping to the whistling wind ; 
And for our warlike arms we sought the mead, 
And guns and spears we made of brittle reed ; 
Then, in uncouth array, our feats to crown, 
We storm 'd some ruined pigsty for a town. 

Pleased with our gay disports, the dame was wont 
To set her wheel before the cottage front, 
And o'er her spectacles would often peer, 
To view our gambols, and our boyish gear. 
Still as she looked, her wheel kept turning round, 
With its beloved monotony of sound. 
When tired with play, we'd set us by her side 
(For out of school she never knew to cliide), 
And wonder at her skill — well known to fame — 
For who could match in spinning with the dame ? 
Her slieets, her Hnen, which she showed with pride 
To strangers, still her thriftness testified ; 



46 THE POEMS OF 

Though we poor wights did wonder much, in troth, 
How 't was her spinning manufactured cloth. 

Oft would we leave, though well beloved, our play 
To chat at home the vacant hour away. 
Many 's the time V ve scampered in the glade, 
To ask the promised ditty from the maid. 
Which well she loved, as well she knew to sing, 
While we around her formed a little ring : 
She told of innocence foredoomed to bleed, 
Of wicked guardians bent on bloody deed. 
Or little children murdered as they slept ; 
While at each pause we wrung our hands and wept. 
Sad was such tale, and wonder much did we 
Such hearts of stone there in the world could be. 
Poor simple wights, ah ! little did we ween 
The ills that wait on man in life's sad scene ! 
Ah, little thought that we ourselves should know 
This world 's a world of weeping and of woe ! 

Beloved moment ! then 'twas first I caught 
The first foundation of romantic thought ! 
Then first I shed bold Fancy's thrilling tear. 
Then first that poesy charmed mine infant ear. 
Soon stored with much of legendary lore. 
The sports of childliood charmed my soul no more. 
Far from the scene of gaiety and noise, 
Far, far from turbulent and empty joys, 
I hied me to the thick o'erarching shade. 
And there, on mossy carpet, listless laid, 
While at my feet the rippling runnel ran. 
The days of wild romance antique I 'd scan ; 



KIIIKE WHITE. 47 

Soar on the wings of fancy through the air. 

To reahns of light, and pierce the radiance there. 



PART II. 

There are who think that Childhood does not share 
With age the cup, the bitter cup, of care : 
Alas ! they know not this unhappy truth, 
That every age, and rank, is born to ruth. 

From the first dawn of reason in the mind, 
Man is foredoomed the thorns of grief to find ; 
At every step has farther cause to know 
The draught of pleasure still is dashed with woe. 

Yet in the youthful breast, for ever caught 
With some new object for romantic thought, 
The impression of the moment quickly files. 
And with the morrow every sorrow dies. [control 

How difierent manhood ! — then does Thought's 
Sink every pang still deeper in the soul ; 
Then keen Afiliction's sad unceasing smart 
Becomes a painful resident in the heart ; 
And Care, whom not the gayest can outbrave. 
Pursues its feeble victim to the grave. 
Then, as each long-known friend is summon'd hence, 
We feel a void no joy can recompense. 
And as we weep o'er every new-made tomb. 
Wish that ourselves the next may meet our doom. 

Yes, Childhood, thee no rankling woes pursue. 
No forms of future ill salute thy view^ 



48 THE POEMS OF 

No pangs repentant bid thee wake to weep, 
But halcyon peace protects thy downy sleep, 
And sanguine Hope, through every storm of life. 
Shoots her bright beams, and calms the internal strife. 
Yet e'en round childhood's heart, a thoughtless shrine, 
Affection's little thread will ever twine ; 
And though but frail may seem each tender tie, 
The soul foregoes them but with many a sigh. 
Thus, when the long-expected moment came, 
Wlien forced to leave the gentle-hearted dame, 
Reluctant th robbings rose within my breast. 
And a still tear my silent grief expressed. 

When to the public school compelled to go. 
What novel scenes did on my senses flow ? 
There in each breast each active power dilates, 
Wliicli 'broils whole nations, and convulses states ; 
Their reigns, by turns alternate, love and hate, 
Ambition burns, and factious rebels prate ; 
And in a smaller range, a smaller sphere, 
The dai'k deformities of man appear. 
Yet there the gentler ^^rtues kindred claim, 
There Friendship lights Iier pure untainted flame. 
There mild Benevolence delights to dwell. 
And sweet Contentment rests without her cell ; 
And there, 'mid many a stormy soul, we find 
The good of heart, the intelhgent of mind. 

'T was there, O George ! with thee I learned to join 
In Friendship's bands — in amity divine. 
Oh, mournful thought ! — Where is thy spirit now ? 
As here I sit on favourite Logar's brow, 



KIRKE WHITE. 49 

And trace below each well remembered glade, 
Where arm in arm, erewhile with thee I strayed. 
Where art thou laid — on what untrodden shore, 
Where nought is heard save ocean's sullen roar ? 
Dost thou in lowly, unlamented state. 
At last repose from all the storms of fate ? 
Methinks I see thee struggling with the wave. 
Without one aiding hand stretched out to save ; 
See thee convulsed, thy looks to heaven bend. 
And send thy parting sigh unto thy friend : 
Or where immeasurable wilds dismay. 
Forlorn and sad thou bend'st thy weary way, 
While sorrow and disease, with anguish rife, 
Consume apace the ebbing springs of life. • 

Again I see his door against thee shut. 
The unfeeling native turn thee from his hut; 
I see thee, spent with toil and worn with grief, 
Sit on the grass, and wish the long'd relief; 
Then lie thee down, the stormy struggle o'er, 
Think on thy native land — and rise no more ! 

Oh ! that thou couldst, from thine august abode, 
Survey thy friend in life's dismaying road, 
That thou couldst see him, at this moment here, 
P^mbalm thy memory with a pious tear. 
And hover o'er him as he gazes round. 
Where all the scenes of infant joys surround. 

Yes! yes! his spirit's near! — The wliispering 
Conveys his voice sad sighing on the trees ; [breeze 
And lo ! his form transparent I perceive. 
Borne on the gray mist of the sullen eve : 

4 



50 THE POEMS OF 

He hovers near, clad in the night's dim robe, 
While deathly silence reigns upon the globe. 

Yet ah ! whence comes this visionary scene ? 
'T is Fancy's wild aerial dream I ween : 
By her inspired, when reason takes its flight. 
What fond illusions beam upon the sight ! 
She waves her hand, and lo ! what forms appear ! 
What magic sounds salute the wondering ear I 
Once more o'er distant regions do we tread, 
And the cold grave yields up its cherished dead ; 
While, present sorrows banished far away. 
Unclouded azure gilds the placid day, 
Or, in the future's cloud-encircled face, 
Fair scenes of bliss to come we fondly trace, 
And draw minutely every little wile. 
Which shall the fieathery hours of time beguile. 

So when forlorn, and lonesome at her gate, 
The Royal Mary solitary sate, 
And viewed the moonbeam trembling on the wave. 
And heard tlie hollow surge her prison lave, 
Towards France's distant coast she bent her sight, 
For there her soul had winged its longing flight ; 
There did she form full many a scheme of joy. 
Visions of bliss unclouded with alloy, 
Which bright through Hope's deceitful optics beamed. 
And all became the surety which it seemed ; 
§he wept, yet felt, while all within was calm, 
(n every tear a melancholy charm. 

To yonder hill, whose sides, deformed and steep, 
ust yield a scanty sustenance to the sheep, 



KIRKE WHITE. 51 

With thee, my friend, I oftentimes have sped, 

To see the sun rise from his healthy bed ; 

To watch the aspect of the summer morn, 

Smiling upon the golden fields of corn, 

And taste, delighted, of superior joys. 

Beheld through sympathy's enchanted eyes : 

With silent admh^ation oft we viewed 

The myriad hues o'er heaven's blue concave strewed ; 

The fleecy clouds, of every tint and shade. 

Round which the silvery sunbeam glancing played 

And the round orb itself, in azure throne. 

Just peeping o'er the blue hill's ridgy zone ; 

We marked delighted, how with aspect gay. 

Reviving Nature hailed returning day ; 

Marked how the flowerets reared their drooping heads, 

And the wild lambkins bounded o'er the meads, 

While from each tree, in tones of sw^eet delight. 

The birds sung pseans to the source of light : 

Oft have we watched the speckled lark arise, 

Leave his grass bed, and soar to kindred skies, 

And rise, and rise, till the pained sight no more 

Could trace him in his high aerial tour ; 

Though on the ear, at intervals, his song 

Came wafted slow the w^avy breeze along ; 

And we have thought how happy w^ere our lot, 

Blest with some sweet, some solitary cot, 

Where, from the peep of day, till russet eve 

Began in every dell her forms to weave. 

We might pursue our sports from day to day, 

And in each other's arms wear life away. 



52 THE POEMS OF 

At sultry noon too, when our toils were done, 
We to the gloomy glen were wont to run ; 
There on the turf we lay, while at our feet 
The cooling rivulet rippled softly sweet ; 
And mused on holy theme, and ancient lore. 
Of deeds, and days, and heroes now no more ; 
Heard, as liis solemn harp Isaiah swept. 
Sung woe unto the wicked land — and wept ; 
Or, fancy-led, saw Jeremiah mourn 
In solemn sorrow o'er Judea's urn. 
Then to another shore perha[)S would rove, 
With Plato talk in his Ilyssian grove ; 
Or, wandering where the Thespian palace rose, 
Weep once again o'er fair Jocasta's woes. 

Sweet then to us was that romantic band. 
The ancient legends of our native land : 
Chivalric Britomart, and Una fair, 
And courteous Constance, doomed to dark despair, 
By turns our thouglits engaged ; and oft we talked 
Of times when monarch superstition stalked. 
And when the blood-fraught galiots of Rome 
Brought the grand Druid fabric to its doom : 
Wliile, where the wood-hung Menai's waters How, 
The hoary harpers poured the strain of woe. 

While thus employed, tons how sad the bell 
W^hich summoned us to school ! 'T w^as Fancy's knell, 
And, sadly sounding on the sullen ear, 
It spoke of study pale, and chilling fear. 
Yet even then, (for oh ! w^hat chains can bind, 
What powers control, the energies of mind !) 



KIRKE WHITE. 53 

E'en then we soared to many a height sublime, 
And many a day-dream charmed the lazy time. 
At evening too, how pleasing was our walk, 
Endeared by Friendship's unrestrained talk. 
When to the upland heights we bent our way, 
To view the last beam of departing day ; 
How calm was all around ! no playful breeze 
Sigh'd 'mid the wavy foliage of the trees, 
But all was still, save when, with drowsy song, 
The gray -fly wound his sullen horn along ; 
And save when heard in soft, yet merry glee. 
The distant church bells' mellow harmony ; 
The silver mirror of the lucid brook, 
That 'mid the tufted broom its still course took ; 
The rugged arch, that clasped its silent tides. 
With moss and rank weeds hanging down its sides ; 
The craggy rock, that jutted on the sight ; 
The shrieking bat, that took its heavy flight ; 
All, all was pregnant with divine delight. 
We loved to. watch the swallow swimming high. 
In the bright azure of the vaulted sky ; 
Or gaze upon the clouds, whose colour'd pride 
Was scattered thinly o'er the welkin wide. 
And tinged with such variety of shade, 
To the charmed soul sublimest thoughts conveyed. 
In these what forms romantic did we trace. 
While Fancy led us o'er the realms of space ! 
Now we espied the Thunderer in his car, 
Leading the embattled seraphim to war. 



54 THE POEMS OF 

Then stately towers descried, sublimely high, 
In Gothic grandeur frowning on the sky — 
Or saw, wide stretching o'er the azure height, 
A ridge of glaciers in mural white, 
Hugely terrific. — But those times are o'er, 
And the fond scene can charm mine eyes no more ; 
For thou art gone, and I am left below, 
Alone to struggle through this world of woe. 

The scene is o'er — still seasons onward roll, 
And each revolve conducts me toward the goal ; 
Yet all is blank, without one soft relief. 
One endless continuity of grief; 
And the tired soul, now led to thoughts sublime. 
Looks but for rest beyond the bounds of time. 

Toil on, toil on, ye busy crowds, that pant 
For hoards of wealth which ye will never want : 
And lost to all but gain, with ease resign 
The calms of peace and happiness divine ! 
Far other cares be mine ! — Men little crave 
In this short journey to the silent grave ; 
And the poor peasant, blessed with peace and health, 
I envy more than Croesus with his* wealth. 
Yet grieve not I, that Fate did not decree 
Paternal acres to await on me ; 
She gave me more, she placed within my breast 
A heart with little pleased — with little blest : 
I look around me, where, on every side, 
Extensive manors spread in wealthy pride ; 
And could my sight be borne to either zone, 
I should not find one foot of land my own. 



KIRKE WHITE. 55 

But whither do I wander ? shall the muse. 
For golden baits, her simple theme refuse ? 
Oh, no ! but while the weary spirit greets 
The fading scenes of childhood's far gone sweets, 
It catches all the infant's wandering tongue, 
And prattles on in desultory song. 
That song must close — the gloomy mists of night 
Obscure the pale stars' visionary light. 
And ebon darkness, clad in vapoury wet, 
Steals on the welkin in primaeval jet. 

The song must close. — Once more my adverse lot 
Leads me reluctant from this cherished spot : 
Again compels to plunge in busy life, 
And brave the hateful turbulence of strife. 

Scenes of my youth — ere my unwilling feet 
Are turned for ever from this loved retreat. 
Ere on these fields, with plenty cover'd o'er. 
My eyes are closed to ope on them no more. 
Let me ejaculate, to feeling due. 
One long, one last affectionate adieu. 
Grant that, if ever Providence should please 
To give me an old age of peace and ease, 
Grant that, in these sequestered shades, my days 
May wear away in gradual decays : 
And oh ! ye spirits, who unbodied play. 
Unseen upon the pinions of the day. 
Kind genii of my native fields benign, 
Who were 



56 THE POEMS OF 



THE CHRISTIAD. 

A DIVINE POEM. 

BOOK I. 
I. 

I SING the Cross ! — Ye white-robed angel choirs, 

Who know the chords of harmony to sweep, 
Ye who o'er holy David's varying wires 

Were wont, of old, your hovering watch to keep. 
Oh, now descend ! and with your harpings deep, 
Pouring sublime the full symphonious stream 

Of music, such as soothes the saint's last sleep, 
Awake my slumbering spirit from its dream, 
And teach me how to exalt the high mysterious 
theme. 

II. 

Mourn ! Salem, mourn ! low lies thine humbled 
state. 
Thy ghttering fanes are levelled with the ground ! 
Fallen is thy pride ! — Thine halls are desolate ! 
Where ,erst was heard the timbrels' sprightly 

sound. 

And frolic pleasures tripped the nightly round, 

There breeds the wild fox lonely, — and aghast 

Stands the mute pilgrim at the void profound, 

Unbroke by noise, save when the hurrying blast 

Sighs, like a spirit, deep along the cheerless waste. 



KIRKE WHITE. 57 

III. 

It is for this, proud Solyma ! thy towers 
Lie crumbhng in the dust ; for this forlorn 

Thy genius wails along thy desert bowers, 

While stern Destruction laughs, as if in scorn, 
That thou didst dare insult God's eldest born ; 

And, with most bitter persecuting ire. 

Pursued his footsteps till the last day-dawn 

Rose on his fortunes — and thou saw'st the fire 
That came to light the world, in one great flash expire. 

IV. 

Oh ! for a pencil dipped in living light. 

To paint the agonies that Jesus bore ! 
Oh ! for the long lost harp of Jesse's might, 

To hymn the Saviour's praise from shore to 
shore; 

While seraph hosts the lofty paean pour, 
And Heaven enraptured lists the loud acclaim ! 

May a frail mortal dare the theme explore ? 
May he to human ears his weak song frame ? * 
Oh ! may he dare to sing Messiah's glorious name. 

V. 

Spirits of pity ! mild crusaders, come ! 

Buoyant on clouds around your minstrel float. 
And give him eloquence who else were dumb. 

And raise to feeling and to fire his note ! 

And thou, Urania ! who dost still devote 
Thy nights and days to God's eternal shrine, 

Whose mild eyes 'lumined what Isaiah wrote, 



58 THE POEMS OF 

Throw o'er thy Bard that solemn stole of thine, 
And clothe him for the fight with energy divine. 

VI. 

When from the temple's lofty summit prone, 
Satan, o'ercome, fell down ; and 'throned there. 

The son of God confessed in splendour shone : 
Swift as the glancing sunbeam cuts the air, 
Mad with defeat, and yelling his despair, 



Fled the stern king of Hell — and with the glare 
Of gliding meteors, ominous and red. 
Shot athwart the clouds that gathered round his head. 

VIT. 

Right o'er the Euxine, and that gulf which late 

The rude Massage toe adored, he bent 
His northering course, while round, in dusky state 

The assembling fiends their summoned troops 
augment ; 

Clothed in dark mists, upon their way they went, 
Wliile as they pass'd to regions more severe. 

The Lapland sorcerer swelled with loud lament 
The solitary gale ; and, filled with fear. 
The howling dogs bespoke unholy spirits near. 

VIII. 

Where the North Pole, in moody solitude. 

Spreads her huge tracks and frozen wastes 
around, 

There ice-rocks piled aloft, in order rude. 
Form a gigantic hall, where never sound 



KIRKE WHITE. 59 

Startled dull Silence' ear, save when profound 

The smoke-frost muttered: there drear Cold for 

aye [mound, 

Thrones him, — and, fixed on his primaeval 

Ruin, the giant, sits ; while stern Dismay 

Stalks like some woe-struck man along the desert 

way. 

IX. 

In that drear spot, grim Desolation's lair. 

No sweet remain of life encheers the sight ; 
The dancing heart's blood in an instant there 
Would freeze to marble. — Mingling day and 
night [lig^t) 

(Sweet interchange, which makes our labours 
Are there unknown ; while in the summer skies 
The sun rolls ceaseless round his heavenly 
height, 
Nor ever sets till from the scene he flies, [rise. 
And leaves the long bleak night of half the year to 



'T was there, yet shuddering from the burning lake, 
Satan had fixed their next consistory. 

When parting last he fondly hoped to shake 
Messiah's constancy, — and thus to free 
The powers of darkness from the dread decree 

Of bondage brought by him, and circumvent 
The unerring ways of Him whose eye can see 

The womb of Time, and, in its embryo pent. 
Discern the colours clear of every dark event. 



60 THE POEMS OF 

XI. 

Here the stern monarch stayed his rapid flight, 

And his thick hosts, as with a jetty pall, 
Hovering obscured the north star's peaceful light, 
Waiting on wing their haughty chieftain's call. 
He, meanwhile, downward, with a sullen fall. 
Dropped on the echoing ice. Instant the sound 
Of their broad vans was hushed, and o'er the 
hall, 
Vast and obscure, the gloomy cohorts bound. 
Till, wedged in ranks, the seat of Satan they sur- 
round. 

XII. 

High on a solium of the solid wave, 

Pranked witli rude shapes by the fantastic frost. 
He stood in silence ; — now keen thoughts engrave 

Dark figures on his front ; and, tempest-tossed, 

He fears to say that every hope is lost. 
Meanwhile the multitude as death are mute ; 

So, ere the tempest on Malacca's coast, 
Sweet Quiet, gently touching her soft lute. 
Sings to the whispering waves the prelude to dispute. 

XIII. 

At length collected, o'er the dark divan 

The arch fiend glanced as by the boreal blaze 

Their downcast brows were seen, and thus began 
His fierce harangue : — " Spirits ! our better 

days 
Are now elapsed ; Moloch and Belial's praise 



KIRKE WHITE. 61 

Shall sound no more in groves by myriads trod. 
Lo ! the light breaks ; — the astonished nations 
gaze! 
For us is lifted high the avenging rod ! 
For, spirits ! this is He, — this is the Son of God ! 

XTV. 

" What then ! — shall Satan's spirit crouch to fear ? 

Shall he who shook the pillars of God's reign 
Drop from his unnerved arm the hostile spear ? 
Madness ! The very thought would make me 

fain 
To tear the spangles from yon gaudy plain, 
And hurl them at their Maker ! — Fixed as Fate 
I am his foe! — Yea, though his pride should 
deign 
To soothe mine ire with half his regal state, 
Still would I burn with fixed unalterable hate. 

XV. 

" Now hear the issue of my cursed emprize. 

When from our last sad synod I took flight, 
Buoyed with false hopes, in some deep-laid dis- 
guise. 

To tempt this vaunted Holy One to write 

His ow^n self-condemnation ; in the plight 
Of aged man in the lone wilderness, 

Gathering a few stray sticks, I met his sight ; 
And, leaning on my staff, seemed much to guess 
What cause could mortal brin<? to that forlorn recess* 



62 THE POEMS OF 

XVI. 

" Then thus in homely guise I featly framed 

My lowly speech : — " Good Sir, what leads this 

way [blamed 

Your wandering steps? must hapless chance be 

That you so far from haunt of mortals stray ? 

Here have I dwelt for many a lingering day, 
Nor trace of man have seen : but how ! methought 

Thou wert the youth on whom God's holy ray 
I saw descend in Jordan, when John taught 
That he to fallen man the saving promise brought.' 

XVII. 

'" ' I am that man,* said Jesus, ' I am He. [feet 
But truce to questions — Canst tliou point my 

To some low hut, if haply such there be 
In this wild labyrinth, where I may meet 
With homely greeting, and may sit and eat ; 

For forty days I have tarried fasting here. 
Hid in the dark glens of this lone retreat. 

And now I hunger ; and my fainting ear [near.' 
Lono-s much to f?reet the sound of fountains j^ushing 

XVIII. 

" Then thus I answered wily : — ' Tf, indeed, 
Son of our God thou be'st, what need to seek 

For food from men ? — Lo ! on these flint stones 
feed, 
Bid them be bread ! Open thy lips and speak, 



KIRKE WHITE. 63 

And living rills from yon parched rock will 
break.' 
Instant as I had spoke, his piercing eye 

Fixed on my face ; — the blood forsook my cheek, 

I could not bear his gaze ; — my mask slipped by ; 

I would have shunned his look, but had not power to 

fly- 

XIX. 

" Then he rebuked me with the holy word — 
Accursed sounds ; but now my native pride 

Returned, and by no foolish qualm deterred, 
I bore him from the mountain's woody side 
Up to the summit, where extending wide 

Kingdoms and cities, palaces and fanes, 

Bright sparkling in the sunbeams, were descried, 

And in gay dance, amid luxuriant plains, 
Tripp'd to the jocund reed the emasculated swains. 

XX. 

, " ' Behold,' I cried, ' these glories I scenes divine ! 
Thou whose sad prime in pining want decays ; 
And these, O rapture 1 these shall all be thine. 
If thou wilt give to me, not God, the praise. 
Hath he not given to indigence thy days ? 
Is not thy portion peril here and pain ? 

Oh ! leave his temples, shun his wounding 
ways ! 
Seize the tiara ! these mean weeds disdain, 
Kneel, kneel, thou man of woe, and peace and 
splendour gain.' 



64 THE POEMS OF 

XXI. 

" * Is it not written/ sternly he replied, 
* Tempt not the Lord thy God ! ' P^rowning he 
spake, 
And instant sounds, as of the ocean tide, 

Rose, and the whirlwind from its prison brake, 
And caught me up aloft, till in one fiake 
The sidelong volley met my swift career, 

And smote me earthward. — Jove himself might 
quake 
At such a fall ; my sinews cracked, and near, 
Obscure and dizzy sounds seem'd ringing in mine ear. 

XXII. 

" Senseless and stimned I lay ; till casting round 
My half unconscious gaze, I saw the foe 

Borne on a car of roses to the ground. 
By volant angels ; and as sailing slow 
He sunk the hoary battlement below, 

While on the tall spire slept the slant sunbeam, 
Sweet on the enamoured zephyr was the flow 

Of heavenly instruments. Such strains oft seem. 
On star-light hill, to soothe the Syrian shepherd's 
dream. 

XXIII. 

" I saw, blaspheming. Hate renewed my strength ; 
I smote the ether with my iron wing, 

And left the accursed scene. — AiTived at length 
In these drear halls, to ye, my peers ! I bring 
The tidings of defeat. Hell's haughty king 



KIRKE WHITE. 65 

Thrice vanquished, baffled, smitten, and dismayed ! 

shame ! Is this the hero who could tiing 
Defiance at his Maker, while arrajed, 

High o'er the walls of light, rebellion's banners 
play'd! 

XXIV. 

" Yet shall not Heaven's bland minions triumph 
long ; 
Hell yet shall have revenge. O glorious sight, 
Prophetic visions on my fancy throng, 

1 see wild Agony's lean finger write 

Sad figures on his forehead ! — Keenly bright 
Revenge's flambeau burns 1 Now in his eyes 

Stand the hot tears, ^- immantled in the night, 
Lo ! he retires to mourn ! — I hear his cries ! 
He faints — he falls — and lo ! ^ — 't is true, ye powers, 
he dies." 

XXV. 

Thus spake the chieftain, — and as if he viewed 
The scene he pictured, with his foot advanced 
And chest inflated, motionless he stood. 

While under his uplifted shield he glanced, 
With straining eyeball fixed, like one entranced, 
On viewless air ; — thither the dark platoon 
Gazed wondering, nothing seen, save when there 
danced 
The northern flash, or fiend late fled from noon, 
Darkened the disk of the descending moon. 

5 



66 THE POKMS OF 

XXVI. 

Silence crept stilly tlirough the ranks. — The 
breeze 
Spake most distinctly. As the sailor stands, 
When all the midnight gaspmg from the seas 
Break boding sobs, and to his sight expands 
High on the shrouds the spirit that commands 
The ocean-farer's life ; so stiff — so sear 

Stood each daj*k power ; — while through their 
numerous bands 
Beat not one heart, and mingHng hope and fear . 
Now told them all wa.s lost, now bade revenge appear. 

XXVII. 

One there was there, whose loud defying tongue 
Nor hope nor fear had silenced, but the swell 

Of over-boiling malice. Utterance long 

His passion mocked, and long he strove to tell 
His labouring ire ; still syllable none fell 

From his pale quivering lip, but died away 
For very fury ; from each hollow cell 

Half sprang his eyes, that cast a riamy ray, 
And 

XXVIII. 

"This comes," at length burst from the furious 
chief, 

" This comes of distant counsels ! Here behold 
The fruits of wily cunning ! the relief 

Wliich coward pohcy would fain unfold. 



KIKKE WHITE. 67 

To soothe the powers that warred with Heaven 
of old! 
O wise ! O potent ! O sagacious snare ! 

And lo ! our prince — the mighty and the bold, 
There stands he, spell-struck, gaping at the air, 
While Heaven subverts his reign, and plants her 
standard there." 

XXIX. 

Here, as recovered, Satan fix'd his eye 

Full on the speaker ; dark it was and stern ; 
Pie wrapped his black vest round him gloomily, 
And stood like one whom weightiest thoughts 

concern. 
Him Moloch marked, and strove again to turn 
His soul to rage. " Behold, behold," he cried, 
"The lord of Hell, who made these legions 
spurn 
Almighty rule — behold he lays aside [fied." 

The spear of just revenge, and shrinks, by man de- 

XXX. 

Thus ended Moloch, and his burning tongue 
Hung quivering, as if [mad] to quench its heat 

In slaughter. So, his native wilds among, 
The famished tiger pants, when, near his seat. 
Pressed on the sands, he marks the traveller's 
feet. 

Instant low murmurs rose, and many a sword 



68 THE POEaiS OF 

Had from its scabbard sprung; but toward the 
seat 
Of the arch-fiend all turned with one accord, 
As loud he thus harangued the sanguinary horde. 



" Ye powers of Hell, I am no coward. I proved 
this of old : who led your forces against the armies 
of Jehovah? Who coped with Ithuriel and the 
thunders of the Almighty? Who, when stunned 
and confused ye lay on the burning lake, w^ho first 
awoke, and collected your scattered powers ? Lastly, 
who led you across the unfathomable abyss to this 
delightful world, and established that reign here 
which now totters to its base? How, therefore, 
dares yon treacherous fiend to cast a stain on Satan's 
bravery ? he who preys only on the defenceless — 
who sucks the blood of infants, and delights only in 
acts of ignoble cruelty and unequal contention. 
Away with the boaster who never joins in action, 
but, like a cormorant, hovers over the field, to feed 
upon the wounded, and overwhelm the dying. True 
bravery is as remote from rashness as from hesita- 
tion ; let us counsel coolly, but let us execute our 
counselled pui^poses determinately. In power we 
have learned, by that experiment which lost us 
Heaven, that we are inferior to the Thunder-bearer : 
— In subtlety, in subtlety alone we are his equals. 
Open war is impossible. 



KIRKE WHITE. 69 

" Thus we shall pierce our conqueror through the 
race 
Which as himself he loves ; thus if we fall. 
We fall not with the anguish, the disgrace. 
Of falling unrevenged. The stirring call 
Of vengeance rings within me ! Warriors all, 
The word is vengeance, and the spur despair. 
Away with coward wiles ! — Death's coal-black 
pall 
Be now our standard ! — Be our torch the glare 
Of cities fired ! our fifes, the shrieks that fill the air ! " 

Him answering rose Mecashpliim, who of old, 
Far in the silence of Chaldea's groves. 

Was worshipped, God of Fire, with charms untold 
And mystery. His wandering spirit roves, 
Now vainly searching for the fiame it loves ; 

And sits and mourns like some white-robed sire, 
Where stood his temple, and where fragrant 
cloves 

And cinnamon unheaped the sacred pyre, 
And nightly magi watched the everlasting fire. 

He waved his robe of flame, he crossed his breast, 
And sighing — his papyrus scarf surveyed, 

Woven with dark characters, then thus addressed 
The troubled council. 



70 THE POEMS OF 



I. 

Thus far have I pursued my solemn theme 

With self-rewarding toil, thus far have sung 
Of godlike deeds, far loftier than beseem 

The Ijre which I in early days have strung : 
And now my spirit's faint, and I have hung 
The shell, that solaced me in saddest hour, 

On the dark cypress! and the strings which 
rung 
With Jesus' praise, their harpings now are o'er, 
Or, when the breeze comes by, moan and are heard 
no more. 

TI. 

And must the harp of Judah sleep again ? 

Shall I no more reanimate the lay ? 
Oh ! Thou who visitest the sons of men, 

Thou who dost hsten when the humble pray, 

One little space prolong my mournful day! 
One little lapse suspend Thy last decree I 

I am a youthful traveller in the way. 
And this slight boon would consecrate to Thee, 
Ere I with Death shake hands, and smile that I ana 
free. 



These last two stanzas were discovered b^^ Southey writ- 
ten on the leaf of a different book, and apparently long after 
the first canto. 



KIRKE WHITE. 71 



LINES WRITTEN ON A SURVEY OF THE 
HEAVENS, 

IN THE MORNING BEFORE DAYBREAK. 

Ye many twinkling stars, who yet do hold 
Your brilliant places in the sable vault 
Of night's dominions I — Planets, and central orbs 
Of other systems ! — big as the burning sun 
Wliich lights this nether globe, — yet to our eye 
Small as the glowworm's lamp ! — To you I raise 
My lowly orisons, while, all bewildered, 
My vision strays o'er your ethereal hosts ; 
Too vast, too boundless for our narrow mind, 
Warped with low prejudices, to unfold. 
And sagely comprehend. Thence higher soaring, 
Through ye I raise my solemn thoughts to Him, 
The mighty Founder of this wondrous maze, 
The great Creator ! Him ! who now sublime, 
Wrapt in the vsolitary amplitude 
Of boundless space, above the rolling spheres 
Sits on his silent throne and meditates. 

The angelic hosts, in their inferior heaven, 
Hymn to the golden harps his praise sublime, 
Repeating loud, " The Lord our God is great," 
In varied harmonies. — The glorious sounds 
Roll o'er the air serene — The ^olian spheres. 
Harping along their viewless boundaries, 



72 THE POEMS OF 

Catch the full note, and cry, " The Lord is great," 
Responding to the Seraphim. O'er all 
From orb to orb, to the remotest verge 
Of the created world, the sound is borne, 
Till the whole universe is full of Him. 

Oh ! 'tis tliis heavenly harmony which now 
In fancy strikes upon my listening ear. 
And thrills my inmost soul. It bids me smile 
On the vain world, and all its bustling cares. 
And gives a shadowy glimpse of future bliss. 

Oh ! what is man, when at ambition's height ! 
What even are kings, when balanced in the scale 
Of these stupendous worlds ! Almighty God ! 
Thou, the dread author of these wondrous works ! 
Say, canst thou cast on me, poor passing worm, 
One look of kind benevolence ? — Thou canst : 
For Thou art full of universal love, 
And in thy boundless goodness wilt impart 
Thy beams as well to me as to the proud. 
The pageant insects of a gUttering hour. 

Oh ! when reflecting on these truths sublime, 
How insignificant do all the joys. 
The gauds, and honours of the world appear ! 
How vain ambition ! Why has my wakeful lamp 
Outwatched the -slow-paced night ! — Why on the 

page. 
The schoolman's labour'd page, have I employed 
The hours devoted by the world to rest, 
And needful to recruit exhausted nature ? 
Say, can the voice of narrow Fame repay 



KIRKE WHITE. 73 

The loss of health ? or can the hope of glory 
Lend a new throb unto my languid heart. 
Cool, even now, my feverish aching brow, 
Relume the fires of this deep sunken eye, 
Or paint new colours on this pallid cheek ? 

Say, fooUsh one — can that unbodied fame, 
For which thou barterest health and happiness^ 
Say, can it soothe the slumbers of the grave ? 
Give a new zest to bliss, or chase the pangs 
Of everlasting punishment condign ? 
Alas ! how vain are mortal man's desires I 
How fruitless his pursuits ! Eternal God ! 
Guide thou my footsteps in the way of truth. 
And oh ! assist me so to live on earth, 
That I may die in peace, and claim a place 
In thy high dwelling. — All but this is folly, 
The vain illusions of deceitful life. 



LIISHES SUPPOSED TO BE SPOKEN BY A LOVER 
AT THE GRAVE OF HIS MISTRESS. 

OCCASIONED BY A SITUATION IN A ROMANCE. 

Mary, the moon is sleeping on thy grave, 
And on the turf thy lover sad is kneeling. 
The big tear in his eye. — Mary, awake, 
From thy dark house arise, and bless his sight 
On the pale moonbeam gliding. Soft, and low, 
Pour on the silver ear of night thy tale, 



74 THE POEMS OF 

Thy whispered tale of comfort and of love, 

To soothe thy Edward's lorn, distracted soul, 

And cheer his breaking heart. — Come, as thou 

didst, 
When o'er the barren moors the night wind howled. 
And the deep thunders shook the ebon throne 
Of the startled night ! — O I then, as lone reclining, 
I listened sadly to the dismal storm. 
Thou on the lambent lightnings wild careering 
Didst strike my moody eye ; — dead pale thou wert, 
Yet passing lovely. — Thou didst smile upon me, 
And oh ! thy voice it rose so musical. 
Betwixt the hollow pauses of the storm. 
That at the sound the winds forgot to rave. 
And the stern demon of the tempest, charmed, 
Sunk on his rocking throne to still repose, 
Lock'd in the arms of silence. 

Spirit of her ! 
My only love ! ! now again arise, 
And let once more thine aery accents fall 
Soft on my listening ear. The night is calm. 
The gloomy willows wave in sinking cadence 
With the stream that sweeps below. Divinely swell- 
On the still air, the distant waterfall [ing 
Mingles its melody ; — and, high above. 
The pensive empress of the solemn night. 
Fitful, emerging from the rapid clouds. 
Shows her chaste face in the meridian sky. 
No wicked elves upon the Warlock -knoll 
Dare now assemble at their mystic revels. 



KIRKE WHITE. 75 

It is a niglit when, from their primrose beds, 
The gentle ghosts of injured innocents 
Are known to rise and wander on the breeze, 
Or take their stand by the oppressor's couch, 
And strike grim terror to his guilty soul. 
The spirit of my love might now awake, 
And hold its customed converse. 

Mary, lo ! 
Thy Edward kneels upon thy verdant grave, 
And calls upon thy name. The breeze that blows 
On his wan cheek will soon sweep over him, 
In solemn music a funereal dirge. 
Wild and most sorrowful. His cheek is pale. 
The worm that preyed upon thy youthful bloom 
It cankered green on his. Now lost he stands. 
The ghost of what he was, and tlie cold dew, 
Which bathes his aching temples, gives sure omen 
Of speedy dissolution. Mary, soon 
Thy love will lay his pallid cheek to thine, 
And sweetly will he sleep with thee in death. 



MY STUDY. 

A LETTER IN HUDIBRASTIC VERSE. 

You bid me, Ned, describe the place 
Where I, one of the rhyming race, 
Pursue my studies con amore. 
And wanton with the muse in glory. 



76 THE POEMS OF 

Well, figure to your senses straight, 
Upon the house's topmost height, 
A closet just six feet by four, 
With whitewashed walls and plaster floor. 
So noble large, 'tis scarcely able 
To admit a single chair and table : 
And (lest the muse should die with cold) 
A smoky grate my fire to hold : 
So wondrous small, 't would much it pose 
To melt the icedrop on one's nose ; 
And yet so big, it covers o'er 
F'uU half the spacious room and more. 

A window vainly stuffed about, 
To keep November's breezes out, 
So crazy, that the panes proclaim 
That soon they mean to leave the frame. 

My furniture I sure may crack — 
A broken chair without a back ; 
A table wanting just two legs, 
One end sustained by wooden pegs ; 
A desk — of that I am not fervent, 
The work of. Sir, your humble servant ; 
(Who, though I say 't, am no such fumbler ;) 
A glass decanter and a tumbler. 
From which my night-parched throat I lave, 
Luxurious, with the limpid wave. 
A chest of drawers, in anti([ue sections. 
And saw'd by me in all directions ; 
So small. Sir, that whoever views 'em 
Swears nothinor but a doll could use 'em. 



KIRKE WHITE. 77 

To these, if jou will add a store 

Of oddities upon the floor, 

A pair of globes, electric balls, 

Scales, quadrants, prisms, and cobbler's awls, 

And crowds of books, on rotten shelves, 

Octavos, folios, quartos, twelves ; 

I think, dear Ned, you curious dog, ^ 

You '11 have my earthly catalogue. 

But stay, — I nearly had left out 

My bellows destitute of snout ; 

And on the walls, — Good heavens ! why there 

I 've such a load of precious ware, 

Of heads, and coins, and silver medals, 

And organ works, and broken pedals ; 

(For I was once a-building music, 

Though soon of that employ I grew sick) ; 

And skeletons of laws which shoot 

All out of one primordial root ; 

That you, at such a sight, would swear 

Confusion's self had settled there. 

There stands, just by a broken sphere, 

A Cicero without an ear, 

A neck, on which, by logic good, 

I know for sure a head once stood ; 

But who it was the able master 

Had moulded in the mimic plaster, 

Whether 't was Pope, or Coke, or Burn, 

I never yet could justly learn : 

But knowing well, that any head 

Is made to answer for the dead, 



THE POEMS OF 

(And sculptors first their faces frame, 

And after pitch upon a name, 

Nor think it aught of a misnomer 

To christen Chaucer's busto Homer, [know, 

Because they both have beards, which, you 

Will mark them well from Joan, and Juno,) 

For some great man, I could not tell 

But Neck might answer just as well, 

So perch'd it up, all in a row 

With Chatham and with Cicero. 

Then all around, in just degree, 
A range of portraits you may see, 
Of mighty men and eke of women, 
Wlio are no whit inferior to men. 

With these fair dames, and heroes round, 
I call my garret classic ground. 
For though confined, 't will well contain 
The ideal flights of Madam Brain. 
No dungeon's walls, no cell confined 
Can cramp the energies of mind ! 
Thus, though my heart may seem so small, 
I Ve friends, and 't will contain them all ; 
And should it e'er become so cold 
That these it will no longer hold, 
No more may Heaven her blessings give, 
I shall not then be fit to live. 



KIRKE WHITE. 79 



DESCRIPTION OF A SUMMER^S EVE 

Down the sultry arc of day 
The burning wheels have urged their way ; 
And eve along the western skies 
Sheds her intermingling dyes. 
Down the deep, the miry lane, 
Creaking comes the empty wain, 
And driver on the shaft-horse sits, 
Whistling now and then by fits : 
And oft, with his accustom'd call. 
Urging on the sluggish Ball. 
The barn is still, the master 's gone, 
And thresher puts his jacket on, 
While Dick, upon the ladder tall. 
Nails the dead kite to the wall. 
Here comes shepherd Jack at last, 
He has penned the sheepcote fast. 
For 't was but two nights before, 
A lamb was eaten on the moor : 
His empty wallet Rover carries. 
Nor for Jack, when near home, tarries. 
With lolling tongue he runs to try 
If the horse-trough be not dry. 
The milk is settled in the pans, 
And supper messes in the cans ; 
In the hovel carts are wheeled, 
And both the colts are drove a-field ; 



80 THE roEMs of 

The horses are all bedded up, 
And tlie ewe is with the tup. 
The snare for Mister Fox is set, 
The leaven laid, the thatching wet, 
And Bess has slinked away to talk 
With Roger in the holly walk. 

Now, on the settle all, but Bess, 
Are set to eat their supper mess ; 
And little Tom and roguish Kate 
Are swinging on the meadow gate. 
Now they chat of various things, 
Of taxes, ministers, and kings. 
Or else tell all the village news. 
How madam did the squire refuse ; 
How parson on his tithes was bent, 
And landlord oft distrained Torrent. 
Thus do they talk, till in the sky 
The pale-eyed moon is mounted high, 
And from the alehouse drunken Ned 
Had reerd — then hasten aU to bed. 
The mistress sees that lazy Kate 
The happing coal on kitchen grate 
Has laid — while master goes throughout, 
Sees shutters fast, the mastiff out. 
The candles safe, the hearths all clear, 
And nought from thieves or fire to fear ; 
Then both to bed together creep, 
\nd join the general troop of sleep. 



KIRKE WHITE. 81 



LINES, 

Written impromptu, on reading the following passage in Mr. 
Capel Lofft's beautiful and interesting Preface to Nathaniel 
Bloomfield's Poems, just published: — "It has a mixture of 
the sportive, which deepens the impression of its melancholy- 
close. I could have wished, as I have said in a short note, 
the conclusion had been otherwise. The sours of life less 
offend my taste than its sweets delight it.'* 

Go to the raging sea, and say, " Be still ! " 
Bid the wild lawless winds obey thy will ; 
Preach to the storm, and reason with Despair, 
But tell not Misery's son that life is fair. 

Thou, who in Plenty's lavish lap hast roll'd, 
And every year with new delight hast told, 
Thou, who, recumbent on the lacquered barge. 
Hast dropt down joy's gay stream of pleasant marge, 
Thou mayst extol life's calm untroubled sea, 
The storms of misery never burst on thee. 

Go to the mat, where squalid Want reclines. 
Go to the shade obscure, where merit pines ; 
Abide with him whom Penury's charms control, 
And bind the rising yearnings of his soul. 
Survey his sleepless couch, and, standing there, 
Tell the poor pallid wretch that life is fair ! 

Press thou the lonely pillow of his head. 
And ask why sleep his languid eyes has fled; 

6 



82 THE POEMS OF 

Mark his dewed temples, and his half shut eye, 
His trembling nostrils, and his deep drawn sigh. 
His muttering mouth contorted with despair, 
And ask if Genius could inhabit there. 

Oh, yes ! that sunken eye with fire once gleamed, 
And rays of light from its full circlet streamed : 
But now Neglect has stung him to the core, 
And Hope's wild raptures thrill his breast no more , 
Domestic Anguish winds his vitals round, 
And added Grief compels him to the ground. 
Lo I o'er his manly form, decayed and wan, 
The shades of death with gradual steps steal on ; 
And the pale mother, pining to decay. 
Weeps for her boy her wretched life away. 

Go, child of Fortune ! to his early grave, 
Where o'er his head obscure the rank weeds wave ; 
Behold the heart- wrung parent lay her head 
On the cold turf, and ask to share his bed. 
Go, child of Fortune, take thy lesson there. 
And tell us then that life is wondrous fair ! 

Yet, Lofft, on thee, whose hand is still stretched 
forth, 
To encourage genius, and to foster worth ; 
On thee, the imhappy's firm, unfailing friend, 
'T is just that every blessing should descend ; 
*Tis just that life to thee should only show 
Her fairer side but little mixed with woe. 



KIRKE WHITE. 83 



WRITTEN IN THE PROSPECT OF DEATH. 

Sad solitary Thought, who keep'st thy vigils, 

Thy solemn vigils, in the sick man's mind ; 

Communing lonely with his smking soul, 

And musing on the dubious glooms that lie 

In dim obscurity before him, — thee, 

Wrapt in thy dark magnificence, I call . 

At this still midnight hour, this awful season, 

WTien, on my bed, in wakeful restlessness, 

I turn me wearisome ; while all around. 

All, all, save me, sink in forgetfulness ; 

I only wake to watch the sickly taper 

Which lights me to my tomb. Yes, 'tis the hand 

Of death I feel press heavy on my vitals, 

Slow sapping the warm current of existence. 

My moments now are few — -the sand of life 

Ebbs fastly to its finish. Yet a little, 

And the last fleeting particle will fall 

Silent, unseen, unnoticed, unlamented. 

Come then, sad Thought, and let us meditate, 

While meditate we may. — We have now 

But a small portion of what men call time 

To hold communion ; for even now the knife. 

The separating knife, I feel divide 

The tender bond that binds my soul to earth. 

Yes, I must die — I feel that I must die ; 

And though to me has life been dark and dreary, 

Though Hope for me has smiled but to deceive, 



84 THE POEMS OF 

And Disappointment still pursued her blandishments. 

Yet do I feel my soul recoil witliin me 

As I contemplate the dim gulf of death, 

The shuddering void, the awful blank — futurity. 

Ay, I had planned full many a sanguine scheme 

Of earthly happiness — romantic schemes, 

And fraught with loveliness ; and it is hard 

To feel the hand of Death arrest one's steps, 

Throw a chill blight o'er all one's budding hopes, 

And hurl one's soul untimely to the shades, 

Lost in the gaping gulf of blank oblivion. 

Fifty years hence, and who will hear of Henry ? 

Oh ! none ; — another busy brood of beings 

Will shoot up in the interim, and none 

Will hold him in remembrance. I shall sink 

As sinks a stranger in the crowded streets 

Of busy London : — some short bustle 's caused, 

A few inquiries, and the crowds close in. 

And all 's forgotten. — On my grassy grave 

The men of future times will careless tread. 

And read my name upon the sculptured stone ; 

Nor will the sound, familiar to their ears. 

Recall my vanish'd memory. I did hope 

For better things ! — I hoped I should not leave 

The earth mthout a vestige ; — Fate decrees 

It shall be otherwise, and I submit. 

Henceforth, oh, world, no more of thy desires ! 

No more of hope ! the wanton vagrant Hope ! 

I abjure all. Now other cares engross me. 

And my tired soul, w^ith emulative haste, 

Looks to its God, and prunes its wings for heaven. 



KIRKE WHITE. 85 



VERSES. 



When pride and envy, and the scorn 

Of wealth my heart with gall imbued, 
I thought how pleasant were the morn 

Of silence, in the solitude ; 
To hear the forest bee on wing ; 
Or by the stream, or woodland spring, 
To lie and muse alone — alone, 
While the tinkling waters moan, 
Or such wild sounds arise, as say, 
Man and noise are far away. 

Now, surely, thought I, there 's enow 

To fill life's dusty way ; 
And who will miss a poet's feet, 

Or wonder where he stray : 
So to the woods and wastes I'll go. 

And I will build an osier bower, 
And sweetly there to me shall flow 

The meditative hour. 

And when the Autumn's withering hand, 
Shall strew with leaves the sylvan land, 
I '11 to the forest caverns hie : 
And in the dark and stormy nights 
I'll listen to the shrieking sprites, 
Who, in the wintry wolds and floods, 
Keep jubilee, and shred the woods ; 
Or, as it drifted soft and slow. 
Hurl in ten thousand shapes the snow. 



86 THE POEMS OF 



FRAGMENT. 

Oh ! thou most fatal of Pandora's train, 
Consumption ! silent cheater of the eye ; 

Thou com est not robed in agonizing pain, 

Nor mark'st thy course with Death's delusive dye, 
But silent and unnoticed thou dost lie ; 

O'er life's soft springs thy venom dost diffuse. 
And, while thou givest new lustre to the eye. 

While o'er the cheek are spread health's ruddy hues, 

E'en then life's little rest thy cruel power subdues. 

Oft I 've beheld thee, in the glow of youth. 

Hid 'neath the blushing roses which there bloomed ; 

And dropped a tear, for then thy cankering tooth 
I knew would never stay, till all consumed. 
In the cold vault of death he were entombed. 

But oh ! what sorrow did I feel, as swift. 

Insidious ravager, I saw thee fly 
Through fair Lucina's breast of whitest snow. 

Preparing swift her passage to the sky. 
Though still intelligence beamed in the glance, 

The liquid lustre of her fine blue eye ; 
Yet soon did languid listlessness advance. 
And soon she calmly sunk in death's repugnant 
trance. 



KIRKE WHITE. 87 

Even when her end was swiftly drawing near, 
And dissolution hovered o'er her head : 

Even then so beauteous did her form appear, 
That none who saw her but admiring said, 
" Sure so much beauty never could be dead." 

Yet the dark lash of her expressive eye 

Bent lowly down upon the languid — 



FRAGMENT. 

Loud rage the winds without. - — The wintry cloud 
O'er the cold northstar casts her flitting shroud ; 
And Silence, pausing in some snow-clad dale. 
Starts as she hears, by fits, the shrieking gale ; 
Where now, shut out from every still retreat, 
Her pine-clad summit, and her woodland seat, 
Shall Meditation, in her saddest mood, 
Retire o'er all her pensive stores to brood ? 
Shivering and blue the peasant eyes askance 
The drifted fleeces that around him dance. 
And hurries on his half-averted form, 
Stemming the fury of the sidelong storm. 
Him soon shall greet his snow-topped [cot of thatch]. 
vSoon shall his numbed hand tremble on the latch, 
Soon from his chimney's nook the cheerful flame 
Diffuse a genial warmth throughout his frame ; 
Round the light fire, while roars the north wind loud, 
What merry groups of vacant faces crowd ; 



88 THE POEMS OF 

These hail his coming — these his meal prepare, 
And boast in all that cot no lurking care. 

What though the social circle be denied, 
E^en Sadness brightens at her own fireside, 
Loves, with fixed eye, to watch the fluttering blaze. 
While musing Memory dwells on former days ; 
Or Hope, bless'd spirit ! smiles — and still forgiven, 
Forgets the passport, while she points to Heaven. 
Then heap the fire — shut out the biting air. 
And from its station wheel the easy chair : 
Thus fenced and warm, in silent fit, 'tis sweet 
To hear without the bitter tempest beat, 
All, all alone — to sit, and muse, and sigh. 
The pensive tenant of obscurity. 



TO A FRIEND IN DISTRESS, 

WHO. WHEN THE AUTHOR REASONED WITH HIM CALMLY, 
IF HE DID NOT FEEL FOR HIM." 

" Do I not feel ? " The doubt is keen as steel. 
Yei«, I do feel — most exquisitely feel ; 
My heart can weep, when, from my downcast eye, 
I chase the tear, and stem the rising sigh ; 
Deep buried there I close the rankling dart. 
And smile the most when heaviest is my heart. 
On this I act — whatever pangs surround, 
*Tis magnanimity to hide the wound ! 



KIRKE WHITE. 89 

• 

When all was new, and life was in its spring, 

I lived an unloved, soHtary thing ; 

Even then I learned to bury deep from day 

The piercing cares that wore my youth away : 

Even then I learned for others' cares to feel ; 

Even then I wept I had not power to heal : 

Even then, deep-sounding through the nightly gloom, 

I heard the wretched's groan, and mourned the 

wretched's doom. 
"Who were my friends in youth ? — The midnight 

fire — 
The silent moonbeam, or the starry choir ; 
To these I 'plained, or turn 'd from outer sight. 
To bless my lonely taper's friendly light ; 
I never yet could ask, howe'er forlorn. 
For vulgar pity mixed with vulgar scorn ; 
The sacred source of woe I never ope. 
My breast 's my coffer, and my God 's my hope. 
But that I do feel, Time, my friend, will show. 
Though the cold crowd the secret never know ; 
With them I laugh — yet, when no eye can see, 
I weep for nature, and I weep for thee. 
Yes, thou didst wrong me, . . . ; I fondly thought, 
In thee I 'd found the friend my heart had sought ! 
I fondly thought, that thou couldst pierce the guise, 
And read the truth that in my bosom lies ; 
I fondly thought, ere Time's last days were gone, 
Thy heart and mine had mingled into one I 
Yes — and they yet will mingle. Days and years 
Will fly, and leave us partners in our tears : 



90 THE rOKMS OF 

We then shall feel that friendship has a power 
To soothe affliction in her darkest hour ; 
Time's trial o'er, shall clasp each other's hand, 
Ajid wait the passport to a better land. 

Thine, 

H. K. WHITE. 

Half past Eleven o'clock at Night. 



CHRISTMAS DAY. 

1804. 

Yet once more, and once more, awake, my Harp. 
From silence and neglect — one lofty strain ; 
Lofty, yet wilder tlian the winds of Heaven, 
And speaking mysteries more than words can tell, 
I ask of thee ; for I, with hymnings high. 
Would join the dirge of the departing year. 

Yet with no wintry garland from the woods, 
Wrought of the leafless branch, or ivy sere, 
Wreathe I thy tresses, dark December ! now ; 
Me higher quarrel calls, with loudest song, 
And fearful joy, to celebrate the day 
Of the Redeemer. — Near two thousand suns 
Have set their seals upon the rolling lapse 
Of generations, since the dayspring first 
Beamed from on high ! — Now to the mighty mass 
Of that increasing aggregate we add 
One unit more. Space in comparison 
How small, yet marked with how much misery ; 



KIRKE WHITE. 91 

Wars, famines, and the fury, Pestilence, 
Over the nations hanging her dread scourge ; 
The oppressed, too, in silent bitterness. 
Weeping their sufferance ; and the arm of wrong, 
Forcing the scanty portion from the weak, 
And steeping the lone widow's couch with tears. 

So has the year been charactered with woe 
In Christian land, and marked with wrongs and 

crimes ; 
Yet 't was not thus He taught — not thus He lived, 
Whose birth we this day celebrate with prayer 
And much thanksgiving. He, a man of woes, 
Went on the way appointed, — path, though rude. 
Yet borne with patience still : — He came to cheer 
The broken-hearted, to raise up the sick. 
And on the wandering and benighted mind 
To pour the light of truth. task divine ! 
O more than angel teacher ! He had words 
To soothe the barking waves, and hush the winds ; 
And when the soul was tossed in troubled seas, 
Wrapped in thick darkness and the howling storm, 
He, pointing to the star of peace on high, 
Arm'd it with holy fortitude, and bade it smile 

At the surrounding wreck. 

When with deep agony his heart was racked, 
Not for himself the tear-drop dewed his cheek, 
For them He wept, for them to Heaven He prayed, 
His persecutors — " Father, pardon them, 
They know not what they do." 

Angels of Heaven, 
Ye who beheld Him fainting on the cross, 



92 THE POEMS OF 

And did liim homage, say, may mortal join 

The halleluiahs of the risen God ? 

Will the faint voice and grovelling song be leard 

Amid the seraphim in light divine ? 

Yes, he will deign, the Prince of Peace will deign. 

For mercy, to accept the hymn of faith, 

Low though it be and humble. Lord of life. 

The Christ, the Comforter, thine advent now 

Fills my uprising soul. — I mount, I fly 

Far o'er the skies, beyond the roUing orbs ; 

The bonds of flesh dissolve, and earth recedes, 

And oai'e, and pain, and sorrow are no more. 



NELSONI MORS. 

Yet once again, my Harp, yet once again 
One ditty more, and on the mountain ash 
I will again suspend thee. I have felt 
The warm tear frequent on my cheek, since last, 
At eventide, when all the winds were hushed, 
I woke to thee the melancholy song. 
Since then with Thoughtfulness, a maid severe, 
I 've journeyed, and have learned to shape the freaks 
Of frohc fancy to the line of truth ; 
Not unrepining, for my froward heart 
Stills turns to thee, mine Harp, and to the flow 
Of spring-gales past — the woods and storied haunts 
Of my not songless boyhood. — Yet once more. 
Not fearless, I will wake thy tremulous tones, 



KIRKE WHITE. 93 

My long-neglected Harp. He must not sink ; 
The good, the brave — he must not, shall not sink 
Without the meed of some melodious tear. 

Though from the Muse's chalice I may pour 
No precious dews of Aganippe's well, 
Or Castaly, — though from the morning cloud 
1 fetch no hues to scatter on his hearse : 
Yet will I wreathe a garland for his brows, 
Of simple flowers, such as the hedge-rows scent 
Of Britain, my loved country ; and with tears 
Most eloquent, yet silent, I will bathe 
Thy honour'd corse, my Nelson, tears as warm 
And honest as the ebbing blood that flow'd 
Fast from thy honest heart. Thou, Pity, too, 
If ever T have loved, with faltering step. 
To follow thee in the cold and starless night, 
To the top-crag of some rain-beaten cliff ; 
And, as I heard the deep gun bursting loud 
Amid the pauses of the storm, have poured 
Wild strams, and mournful, to the hurrying winds. 
The dying soul's viaticum ; if oft 
Amid the carnage of the field I 've sate 
With thee upon the moonlight throne, and sung 
To cheer the fainting soldier's dying soul, 
With mercy and forgiveness — visitant 
Of Heaven — sit thou upon my harp. 
And give it feeling, which were else too cold 
For argument so great, for theme so high. 

How dimly on that morn the sun arose, 
'Kerchiefed in mists, and tearful, when — 



94 THE POEMS OF 



EPIGRAM ON ROBERT BLOOMFIELD. 

Bloomfield, thy happy-omeiK d name 
Ensures continuance to thy fame ; 
Both sense and truth this verdict give, 
While fields shall bloom, thy name shall live ! 



ELEGY 

OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF MR. GTLL, WHO WAS 

DROWNED IN THE RIVER TRENT, WHILE 

BATHING, 9tH AUGUBT. 1802. 

He sunk, the impetuous river rolled along, 
The sullen wave betray'd his dying breath ; 

And rising sad the rustling sedge among, 

The gale of evening touched the cords of death. 

Nymph of the Trent ! why didst thou not appear 
To snatch the victim from thy felon wave ! 

Alas ! too lato thou earnest to embalm his bier, 
And deck with waterflags his early grave. 

Triumphant, riding o'er its tumid prey, 
Rolls the red stream in sanguinary pride ; 

While anxious crowds, in vain, expectant stay, . 
And ask the swoln corse from the murdering tide. 



KIRKE WHITE. 95 

The stealing tear-drop stagnates in tlie eye, 
The sudden sigh by friendship's bosom proved, 

I mark them rise — I mark the general sigh ! 
Unhappy youth ! and wert thou so beloved ? 

On thee, as lone I trace the Trent's green brink, 
When the dim twilight slumbers on the glade ; 

On thee my thoughts shall dwell, nor Fancy shrink 
To hold mysterious converse with thy shade. 

Of thee, as early, I, with vagrant feet. 

Hail the gray-sandalled morn in Colwick's vale, 
Of thee my sylvan reed shall warble sweet, 
~ And wild-wood echoes shall repeat the tale. 

And, oh ! ye nymphs of Paeon ! who preside 
O'er running rill and salutary stream. 

Guard ye in future well the halcyon tide 

From the rude death-shriek and the dying scream 



INSCRIPTION FOR A MONUMENT TO THE 
MEMORY OF COWPER. 

Reader ! if with no vulgar sympathy 
Thou view'st the wreck of genius and of worth. 
Stay thou thy footsteps near this hallowed spot. 
Here Cowper rests. Although renown have made 
His name familiar to thine ear, this stone 
May tell thee that his virtues were above 
The common portion : — that the voice, now hushed 



96 THE POEMS OF 

In death, was once serenely querulous 
With pity's tones, and in the ear of woe 
Spake music. Now, forgetful, ^t thy feet, 
His tired head presses on its last long rest. 
Still tenant of the tomb ; — and on the cheek. 
Once warm with animation's lambent flush. 
Sits the pale image of unmarked decay. 
Yet mourn not. He had chosen the better part ; 
And, these sad garments of Mortality 
Put off, we trust, that to a happier land 
He went a light and gladsome passenger. 
Sigh'st thou for honours, reader ? Call to mind 
That glory's voice is impotent to pierce 
The silence of the tomb ! but virtue blooms 
Even on the wreck of life, and mounts the skies. 
So gird thy loins with lowliness, and walk 
With Cowper on the pilgrimage of Christ. 



"I'M PLEASED, AND YET I'M SAD. 

When twilight steals along the ground, 
And all the bells are ringing round. 

One, two, three, four, and five, 
I at my study window sit. 
And, wrapped in many a musing fit. 

To bliss am all alive. 

But though impressions calm and sweet 
Thrill round my heart a holy heat, 
• And I am inly glad ; 



KIRKE WHITE. 97 

The tear-drop stands in either eye, 
And yet I cannot tell thee why, 
I'm pleased, and yet I'm sad. 

The silvery rack that flies away, 
Like mortal life or pleasure's ray, 

Does that disturb my breast ? 
Nay, what have I, a studious man. 
To do with life's unstable plan, 

Or pleasure's fading vest ? 

Is it that here I must not stop. 
But o'er yon blue hill's woody top 

Must bend my lonely way ? 
No, surely no ! for give but me 
My own fireside, and I shall be 

At home where'er I stray. 

Then is it that yon steeple there. 
With music sweet shall fill the air. 

When thou no more canst hear ? 
Oh, no ! oh, no ! for then, forgiven, 
I shall be with my God in heaven, 

Released from every fear. 

Then whence it is I cannot tell, 
But there is some mysterious spell 

That holds me when I 'm glad ; 
And so the tear-drop fills my eye. 
When yet in truth I know not why, 

Or wherefore I am sad. 
7 



98 JHE POEMS OF 



SOLITUDE. 

It is not that my lot is low, 
That bids this silent tear to flow ; 
It is not grief that bids me moan ; 
It is that I am all alone. 

In woods and glens I love to roam, 
When the tired hedger hies him home ; 
Or by the woodland pool to rest, 
When pale the star looks on its breast. 

Yet when the silent evening sighs, 
With hallowed airs and symphonies, 
My spirit takes another tone, 
And sighs that it is tdl alone. 

The autumn leaf is sere and dead. 
It floats upon the water's bed ; 
I would not be a leaf, to die 
Without recording sorrow's sigh ! 

The woods and winds, w^th sullen wail, 
Tell all the same unvaried tale ; 
I've none to smile when I am free, 
And when I sigh, to sigh with me. 

Yet in my dreams a form I view, 
That thinks on me, and loves me too ; 
I start, and when the vision's flown, 
I weep that I am all alone. 



KIRKE WHITE. 99 



If far from me the Fates remove 
Domestic peace, connubial love. 
The pratthng ring, the social cheer, 
Affection's voice, affection's tear, 
Ye sterner powers, that bind the heart, 
To me your iron aid impart ! 

teach me when the nights are chill, 
And mj fireside is lone and still ; 
When to the blaze that crackles near, 

1 turn a tired and pensive ear. 

And Nature conquering bids me sigh 
For love's soft accents whispering nigh ; 

teach me, on that heavenly road. 
That leads to Truth's occult abode. 
To wrap my soul in dreams sublime. 
Till earth and care no more be mine. 
Let blessed Philosophy impart 

Her soothing measures to my heart ; 
And while with Plato's ravished ears 

1 list the music of the spheres. 
Or on the mystic symbols pore. 
That hide the Chald's sublimer lore, 
I shall not brood on summers gone, 
Nor think that I am all alone. 



Fanny ! upon thy breast I may not lie ! 

Fanny ! thou dost not hear me when I speak ! 
Where art thou, love ? — Around I turn my eye, 

And as I turn, the tear is on my cheek. 



100 THE rOEMS OF 

Was it a dreain ? or did my love behold 

Indeed my lonely eouch ? — Methought tlie breath 

Fann'd not her bloodless lip ; her eye was cold 
And hollow, and the livery of death 

Invested her pale forehead. Sainted maid ! 

My thoughts ofl rest with thee in thy cold grave, 
Through the long wintry night, when wind and 
wave 

Ilock the dark house where thy poor head is laid. 

Yet, hush ! my fond heart, hush ! there is a shore 
Of better promise ; and I know at last, 
When the long sabbath of the tomb is past. 

We two shiill meet in Christ — to part no more. 



FRAGMENTS.* 

'* Saw'st thou tliat light ? " exclauned the youth, and 

paused : 
"^ Through yon dark firs it glanced, and on the stream 
That skirts the woods it for a moment played. 
Again, more light it deamed, — or does some sprite 
Delude mine eyes with shapes of wood and streiuns, 
And hunp far beaming through the thicket's gloom, 
As from some bosomed cabin, where the voice 
Of revelry, or thrifty watchftilness, 
Keeps in the lights at this unwonted hour ? 
No sprite deludes mine eyes, — the beam now glows 

* These Fragments were written upon the back of his matho- 
maticul p;i])cri>, during the last year of his Ufe. 



KIRKE WHITE. 101 

With Steady lustre. — Can it be the moon 

Who, hidden long by the invidious veil 

That blots the Heavens, nov^ sets behind the woods ? " 

" No moon to-night has looked upon the sea 

Of clouds beneath her," answered Rudiger, 

" She has been sleeping with Endymion." 



The pious man, 
In this bad world, when mists and couchant storms 
Hide Heaven's fine circlet, springs aloft in faith 
Above the clouds that threat him, to the fields 
Of ether, where the day is never veiled 
With intervening vapours, and looks down 
Serene upon the troublous sea, that hides 
The earth's fair breast, that sea whose nether face 
To grovelling mortals frowns and darkens all ; 
But on whose billowy back, from man concealed, 
The glaring sunbeam plays. 

Lo ! on the eastern summit, clad in gray, 
Morn, like a horseman girt for travel, comes ; 
And from his tower of mist. 
Night's watchman hurries down. 

There was a little bird upon that pile ; 
It perched upon a ruined pinnacle, 
And made sweet melody. 



102 THE POEMS OF 

The song was soft, jet cheerful, and most clear, 

For other note none swelled the air but his. 

It seemed as if the little chorister. 

Sole tenant of the melancholy pile. 

Were a lone hermit, outcast from his kind. 

Yet withal cheerful. I have heard the note 

Echoing so lonely o'er the aisle forlorn. 



Much musing 



PALE art thou, my lamp, and faint 

Thy melancholy ray : 
When the still night's unclouded saint 

Is walking on her way. 
Through my lattice leaf-embowered. 
Fair she sheds her shadowy beam. 
And o'er my silent sacred room 
Casts a clieckeri'd twilight gloom ; 
I throw aside the learned sheet, 

1 cannot choose but gaze, she looks so mildly sweet. 

Sad vestal, why art thou so fair. 
Or why am I so frail ? 

Methinks thou lookest kindly on me, Moon, 

And cheerest my lone hours with sweet regards ! 
Surely like me thou'rt sad, but dost not speak 
Thy sadness to the cold unheeding crowd ; 
So mournfully composed, o'er yonder cloud 
Thou shinest, like a cresset, beaming far 
From the rude watch-tower, o'er the Atlantic wave. 



KIRKE WHITE. 103 



O GIVE me music — for my soul doth faint ; 

I 'in sick of noise and care, and now mine ear 
Longs for some air of peace, some dying plaint. 

That may the spirit from its cell unsphere. 

Hark how it falls ! and now it steals along, 
Like distant bells upon the lake at eve, 

Wlien all is still ; and now it grows more strong. 
As when the choral train their dirges weave. 

Mellow and many-voiced ; where every close. 

O'er the old minster roof, in echoing waves re- 
flows. 

Oh ! I am wrapt aloft. My spirit soars 

Beyond the skies, and leaves the stars behind. 

Lo ! angels lead me to the happy shores. 
And floating paeans fill the buoyant wind. 

Farewell ! base earth, farewell ! my soul is freed, 

Far from its clayey cell it springs, — 



And must thou go, and must we part ? 

Yes, Fate decrees, and I submit ; 
The pang that Tends in twain my heart. 

Oh, Fanny, dost thou share in it ? 

Thy sex is fickle, — when away, 

Some happier youth may win thy- 



104 THE POEMS OF 



Ah ! who can say, however fair his view, 
Through what sad scenes his path may lie ? 
Ah ! who can give to others' woes his sigh, 

Secure his own will never need it too ? 

Let thoughtless youth its seeming joys pursue, 
Soon will they learn to scan witli thoughtful eye 
The illusive past and dark futurity ; 

Soon will they know — 



Hushed is the lyre — the hand that swept 
The low and pensive wires, 
Robbed of its cunning, from the task retires. 

Yes — it is still — the lyre is still ; 

The spirit which its slumbers broke 

Hath passed away, — and that weak hand that 
woke 
Its forest melodies hath lost its skill. 

Yet I would press you to my lips once more. 
Ye wild, yet withering flowers of poesy ; 

Yet would I drink the fragrance which ye pour, 
Mix'd with decaying odours : for to me 

Ye have beguiled the hours of infancy. 
As in the wood-paths of my native — 



KIKKE WHITE. 105 



When high romance o^er every wood and stream 

Dark lustre shed, my infant mind to fire, 
Spell-struck, and filled with many a wondering dream, 

First in the groves I woke the pensive lyre. 
All there was mystery then, the gust that woke 

The midnight echo was a spirit's dirge, 
And unseen fairies would the moon invoke 

To their hght morrice by the restless surge. 
Now to my sobered thought with life's false smiles. 

Too much . . . 
The vagrant Fancy spreads no more her wiles, 

And dark forebodings now my bosom fill. 



Once more, and yet once more, 

I give unto my harp a dark -woven lay ; 
I heard the waters roar, 

I heard the flood of ages pass away. 
thou, stern spirit, who dost dwell 

In thine eternal cell, 
Noting, gray chronicler ! the silent years, 

I saw thee rise, — • I saw the scroll complete ; 

Thou spakest, and at thy feet 
The universe gave way. 



106 THE POEMS OF 



FRAGMENT OF AN ECCENTRIC DRAMA. 

WRITTEN AT A VERY EARLY AGE. 
THE DANCE OF THE CONSUMPTIVES. 

Ding-dong ! dingKlong ! 
Merry, merry go the bells, 
Din^-donof ! din^-donsr ! 

Do O O 

Over the heath, over the raoor, and over the dale, 

" Swingmg slow with sullen roar," 
Dance, dance away the jocund roundelay ! 
Ding-dong, ding-dong calls us away. 

Round the oak, and round the elm. 
Merrily foot it o'er the gi-ound ! 
The senti-y ghost it stands aloof. 
So merrily, merrily foot it round. 
Ding-dong ! ding-dong ! 
Merry, merry go the bells. 
Swelling in the nightly gale, 
The sentry ghost. 
It keeps its post. 
And soon, and soon our sports must fail : 
But let us trip the nightly ground. 
While the merry, merry bells ring round. 



KIRKE WHITE. 107 

Hark ! Hark ! the death watcli ticks ! 
See, see, the windmg-sheet ! 

Our dance is done, 

Our race is run, 
And we must lie at the alder*s feet I 

Ding-dong ! ding-dong ! 

Merry, merry go the bells, 
Swinging o'er the weltering wave ! 

And we must seek 

Our deathbeds bleak, 
TVTiere the green sod grows upon the grave. 

They vanish — The Goddess of Consumption descends, habited 
in a sky-blue robe, attended by mournful music. 

Come, Melancholy, sister mine ! 

Cold the dews, and chill the night ! 
Come from thy dreary shrine ! 

The wan moon climbs the heavenly height, 
And underneath her sickly ray 
Troops of squalid spectres play, 
And the dying mortals' groan 
Startles the night on her dusky throne. 
Come, come, sister mine I 
Gliding on the pale moonshine : 
We '11_ ride at ease 
On the tainted breeze, 
And oh ! our sport will be divine. 

The Goddess of Melancholy advances out of a deep glen m the 
rear, habited in black, and covered with a thick veil. — She 
speaks. 



108 THE POEMS OP 

Sister, from my dark abode, 
Where nests the raven, sits the toad, 
Hither I come, at thy command : 
Sister, sister, join thy hand ! 
I will smooth the way for thee. 
Thou shalt furnish food for me. 
Come, let us speed our way 
Where tlie troops of spectres play. 
To charnel-houses, churchyards drear, 
Wliere Death sits with a horrible leer, 
A lasting grin, on a throne of bones, 
And skim along the blue tombstones. 
Come, let us speed away. 
Lay our snares, and spread our tether ! 
I will smooth the way for thee, 
Thou shalt furnish food for me ; 
And the grass shall wave 
O'er many a grave, 
Where youth and beauty sleep together. 

CONSUMPTION. 

Come, let us speed our way. 
Join our liands, and spread our tether ! 
1 will furnish food for thee. 
Thou shalt smooth the way for me ! 
And the grass shall wave 
O'er many a grave, 
Wliere youth and beauty sleep together. 



KIRKE WHITE. 109 



MELANCHOLY. • 

Hist, sister, hist ! who comes here ? 
Oh! I know her by that tear, 
By that blue eye's languid glare, 
By her skin, and by her hair : 

She is mine, 

And she is thine. 
Now the deadliest draught prepare. 

CONSUMPTION. 

In the dismal night air dressed, 
I will creep into her breast: 
Flush her cheek, and bleach her skin, 
And feed on the vital fire within. 
Lover, do not trust her eyes,- — ^ 
When they sparkle most, she dies ! 
Mother, do not trust her breath, — 
Comfort she will breathe in death ! 
Father, do not strive to save her, — 
She is mine, and I must have her ! 
The coffin must be her bridal bed ! 
The winding-sheet must wrap her head ; 
The whispering winds must o'er her sigh, 
For soon in the grave the maid must lie : 

The worm it will riot 

On heavenly diet, 
When death has deflowered her eye. 

[They vanish. 
While Consumption speaks, Angelina enters. 



110 THE POEMS OF 

ANGELINA. 

With * what a silent and dejocted pace 

Dost thou, wan Moon ! upon thy way advance 

In the blue welkin's vault ! — Pale wanderer ! 

I last thou too felt the pangs of hopeless love, 

That thus, with such a melancholy grace, 

Thou dost pursue thy solitary course ? 

Has thy Endymion, smooth-faced boy, forsook 

Thy widowed breast — on which the spoiler oft 

Has nestled fondly, while the silver clouds 

Fantastic pillowed thee, and the dim night. 

Obsequious to thy will, eiicurtain'd round 

With its thick fringe thy couch ? Wan traveller. 

How like thy fate to mine ! — Yet I have still 

One heavenly hope remaining, which thou lack'st ; 

My woes will soon be buried in the grave 

Of kind forge tfulness — my journey here. 

Though it be darksome, joyless, and forlorn, 

Is yet but short, and soon my weary feet 

Will greet the peaceful inn of lasting rest. 

But thou, unhappy Queen ! art doomed to trace 

Thy lonely walk in the drear realms of night. 

While many a lagging age shall sweep beneath 

The leaden pinions of unshaken time ; 

Though not a hope shall spread its glittering hue 

To cheat thy steps along the weary way. 

* With how sad steps, Moon ! thou climb' st the skies, 
How silently, and witli how wan a face ! 

Sir P. Sidney. 



KIRKE WHITE. Ill 

that the sum of human happiness 

Should be so trifling, and so frail withal, 

That when possessed, it is but lessened grief ; 

And even then there 's scarce a sudden gust 

That blows across the dismal waste of life, 

But bears it from the view. Oh ! who would shun 

The hour that cuts from earth, and fear to press 

The calm and peaceful pillows of the grave, 

And yet endure the various ills of life. 

And dark vicissitudes ! Soon, I hope, I feel, 

And am assured, that I shall lay my head. 

My weary aching head, on its last rest. 

And on my lowly bed the grass-green sod 

Will flourish sweetly. And then they will weep 

That one so young, and wdiat they 're pleased to call 

So beautiful, should die so soon, — and tell 

How painful Disappointment's cankered fixng 

Withered the rose upon my maiden cheek. 

Oh, foolish ones ! why, I shall sleep so sweetly. 

Laid in my darksome grave, that they themselves 

Might envy me my rest! And as for them, 

Who, on the score of former intimacy, 

May thus remembrance me — they must themselves 

Successive fall. 

Around the winter fire 
(When out-a-doors the biting frost congeals, 
And shrill the skater's irons on the pool 
Ring loud, as by the moonlight he performs 
His graceful evolutions) they not long 
'/hall sit and chat of older times, and feats 



112 THE POEMS OF 

Of early youth, but silent, one by one, 
Shall drop into their shrouds. Some, in their age, 
Ripe for the sickle ; others young, like me. 
And falling green beneath the untimely stroke. 
Thus, in short time, in the churchyard forlorn, 
Where I shall lie, my friends will lay them down. 
And dwell with me, a happy family. 
And oh ! thou cruel, yet beloved youth. 
Who now hast left me hopeless here to mourn, 
Do thou but shed one tear upon my corse 
And say that I was gentle, and deserved 
A better lover, and I shall forgive 
All, all thy wrongs ; — and then do thou forget 
The hapless Margaret, and be as blessed 
As wish can make thee — Laugh, and i)lay, and sing 
With thy dear choice, and iicvir think of me. 
Yet hist, I hear a step. — In. this dark wood — 



TO A FRIEND. 

WRITTEN AT A VERY EARLY AGE. 

1 Ve read, my friend, of Dioclesian, 
And many another noble Grecian, 
"NYlio wealth and palaces resigned. 
In cots the joys of peace to find ; 
Maximian's meal of turnip-tops 
(Disgusting food to dainty chops) 



KIRKE WHITE. 113 

I Ve also read of, without wonder ; 
But such a cursed egregious blunder, 
As that a man of wit and sense 
Should leave his books to hoard up pence, — 
Forsake the loved Aonian maids 
For all the petty tricks of trades, 
I never, either now, or long since. 
Have heard of such a piece of nonsense ; 
That one who learning's joys hath felt, 
And at the Muse's altar knelt, 
Should leave a life of sacred leisure 
To taste the accumulating pleasure ; 
And, metamorphosed to an alley duck, 
Grovel in loads of kindred muck. 
Oh ! 't is beyond my comprehension ! 
A courtier throwing up his pension, — 
A lawyer working without a fee, — 
A parson giving charity, — 
A truly pious methodist preacher, — 
Are not, egad, so out of nature. 
Had nature made thee half a fool. 
But given thee wit to keep a school, 
I had not stared at thy backsliding : 
But when thy wit I can confide in. 
When well I know thy just pretence 
To solid and exalted sense ; 
When well I know that on thy head 
Philosophy her lights hath shed, 
I stand aghast ! thy virtues sum to, 
I wonder what this world will come to ! 
8 



114 THE POEMS OF 

Yet, whence this strain? shall I repine 
That thou alone dost singly shine ? 
Shall I lament that thou alone, 
Of men of parts, hast prudence known ? 



LINES 

ON READING THE POEMS OF WARTON. 
AGE FOURTEEN. 

Oh, Warton ! to thy soothing shell, 
Stretch'd remote in hermit cell, 
Where the brook runs babbling by, 
For ever I could listening He ; 
And catching all the muses' fire, 
Hold converse with the tuneful choir. 

What pleasing themes thy page adorn, 
The ruddy streaks of cheerful morn. 
The pastoral pipe, the ode sublime, 
And Melancholy's mournful chime ! 
Each with unwonted graces shines 
In thy ever lovely lines. 

Thy muse deserves the lasting meed ; 
Attuning sweet the Dorian reed. 
Now the lovelorn swain complains. 
And sings his sorrows to the plains ; 
Now the sylvan scenes appear 
Through all the changes of the year ; 



KIRKE WHITE. 115 

Or the elegiac strain 
Softly sings of mental pain, 
And mournful diapasons sail 
On the faintly dying gale. 

But, ah ! the soothing scene is o'er, 

On middle flight we cease to soar. 
For now the muse assumes a bolder sweep. 
Strikes on the lyric string lier sorrows deep, 

In strains unheard before. 
Now, now the rising fire thrills high. 
Now, now to heaven's high realms we fly, 

And every throne explore : 
The soul entranced, on mighty wings. 
With all the poet's heat upsprings. 

And loses earthly woes ; 
Till all alarmed at the giddy height. 
The Muse descends on gentler flight. 

And lulls the wearied soul to soft repose. 



FRAGMENT. 

The western gale. 
Mild as the kisses of connubial love. 
Plays round my languid limbs, as all dissolved. 
Beneath the ancient elm's fantj slic shade 
I lie, exhausted with the noontide heat : 
While rippling o'er its deep-worn pebble bed. 
The rapid rivulet rushes at my feet. 
Dispensing coolness. On the fringed marge 



116 THE POEMS OF 

Full many a floweret rears its head, — or pink, 
Or gaudy daffodil. 'Tis here, at noon, 
The buskined wood-nymphs from the heat retire, 
And lave them in the fountain ; here secure 
From Pan, or savage satyr, they disport : 
Or stretched supinely on the velvet turf. 
Lulled by the laden bee, or sultry fly. 
Invoke the god of slumber. . . . 



And, hark ! how merrily, from distant tower, 
Ring round the village bells ! now on the gale 
They rise with gradual swell, distinct and loud ; 
Anon they die upon the pensive ear. 
Melting in faintest music. They bespeak 
A day of jubilee, and oft they bear, 
Commixed along the unfrequented shore, 
The sound of village dance and tabor loud. 
Startling the musing ear of Solitude. 

Such is the jocund wake of Whitsuntide, 
Wlien happy Superstition, gabbling eld ! 
Holds her unhurtful gambols. All the day 
The rustic revellers ply the mazy dance 
On the smooth shaven green, and then at eve 
Commence the harmless rites and auguries ; 
And many a tale of ancient days goes round. 

They tell of wizard seer, whose potent spells 
Could hold in dreadful thrall the labouring moon, 
Or draw the fixed stars from their eminence, 
And still the midnight tempest. Then anon 
Tell of uncharnelled spectres, seen to glide 



KIRKE WHITE. 117 

Along tlie lone wood's unfrequented path, 
Startling the 'nighted traveller ; while the sound 
Of undistinguished murmurs, heard to come 
From the dark centre of the deepening glen, 
Struck on his frozen ear. 

Oh, Ignorance ! 
Thou art fallen man's best friend ! With thee he 
In frigid apathy along his way. [speeds 

And never does the tear of agony 
Burn down his scorching cheek ; or the keen steel 
Of wounded feeling penetrate his breast. 

E'en now, as leaning on this fragrant bank, 
I taste of all the keener happiness 
Which sense refined affords — e'en now my heart 
Would fain induce me to forsake the world. 
Throw off these garments, and in shepherd's weeds, 
With a small flock, and short suspended reed, 
To sojourn in the woodland. — Then my thought 
Draws such gay pictures of ideal bliss. 
That I could almost err in reason's spite. 
And trespass on my judgment. 

Such is life : 
The distant prospect always seems more fair. 
And when attained, another still succeeds. 
Far fairer than before, — yet compass'd round 
With the same dangers, and the same dismay. 
And we poor pilgrims in this dreary maze, 
Still discontented, chase the fairy form 
Of unsubstantial Happiness, to find, 
When life itself is sinking in the strife, 
'Tis but an airy bubble and a cheat. 



118 THE POEMS OF 



COMMENCEMENT OF A POEM ON DESPAIR. 

Some to Aonian lyres of silver sound 
With winning elegance attune their song, 
Form'd to sink lightly on the soothed sejise, 
And charm the soul with softest harmony : 
'Tis then that Hope with sanguine eye is seen 
Roving through Fancy's gay futurity ; 
Her heart light dancing to the sounds of pleasure, 
Pleasure of days to come. Memory, too, then 
Comes with her sister, Melancholy sad. 
Pensively musing on the scenes of youth, 
Scenes never to return.* 
Such subjects merit poets used to raise 
The Attic verse harmonious ; but for me 
A deadlier theme demands my backward hand. 
And bids me strike the strings of dissonance 
With frantic energy. 
'T is wan Despair I sing, if sing I can 
Of him before whose blast the voice of Song, 
And Mirth, and Hope, and Happiness all fly, 
Nor ever dare return. His notes are heard 
At noon of night, where, on the coast of blood. 
The lacerated son of Angola 
Howls forth his sufferings to the moaning wind ; 
And, when the awful silence of the night 
Strikes the chill death-dew to the murderer's heart, 
He speaks in every conscience-prompted word 

* Alluding to tbe two pleasing poems, the Pleasures of Hope 
and of Memory. 



KIRKE WHITE. 119 

Half utter'd, half suppress'd. 

'Tis him I sing — Despair — terrific name, 

Striking unsteadily the tremulous chord 

Of timorous terror — discord in the sound : 

For to a theme revolting as is this, 

Dare not I woo the maids of harmony, 

Who love to sit and catch the soothing sound 

Of lyre ^olian, or the martial bugle. 

Calling the hero to the field of glory, 

And firing him with deeds of high emprise 

And warlike triumph : but from scenes like mine 

Shrink they affrighted, and detest the bard 

Who dares to sound the hollow tones of horror. 

Hence, then, soft maids. 
And woo the silken zephyr in the bowers 
By Heliconia's sleep-inviting stream : 
For aid like yours I seek not; 'tis for powers 
Of darker hue to inspire a verse like mine I 
'Tis work for wizards, sorcerers, and fiends. 

Hither, ye furious imps of Acheron, 
Nurshngs of hell, and beings shunning light. 
And all the myriads of the burning concave : 
Souls of the damned ; — Hither, oh ! come and join 
The infernal chorus. 'T is Despair I sing ! 
He, whose sole tooth inflicts a deadlier pang 
Than all your tortures join'd. Sing, sing Despair ! 
Repeat the sound, and celebrate his power ; 
Unite shouts, screams, and agonizing shrieks, 
Till the loud paean ring through hell's high vault, 
And the remotest spirits of the deep 
Leap from the lake, and join the dreadful song. 



120 THE POEMS OF 

THE EVE OF DEATH. 

IRREGULAR. 

Silence of death — portentx)us calm, 

Those airy forms that yonder fly 
Denote that your void foreruns a storm, 

That the hour of fate is nigh. 
I see, I see, on the dim mist borne, 

The Spirit of battles rear his crest ! 
I see, I see, that ere the morn. 

His spear will forsake its hated rest. 
And the widow'd wife of Larrendill will beat her 
naked breast. 

O'er the smooth bosom of the sullen deep, 

No softly ruffling zephyrs fly ; 
But nature sleeps a deathless sleep. 

For the hour of battle is nigh. 
Not a loose leaf waves on the dusky oak. 

But a creeping stillness reigns around ; 
Except when the raven, with ominous croak. 

On the ear does unwelcomely sound. 
I know, I know what this silence means ; 

I know what the raven saith — 
Strike, oh, ye bards ! the melancholy harp, 

For this is the eve of death. 



Behold, how along the twihght air 
The shades of our fathers glide ! 



KIRKE WHITE. 121 

There Morven fled, with the blood-drenched hair. 

And Colma with gray side. 
No gale around its coolness flings, 

Yet sadly sigh the gloomy trees ; 
And hark ! how the harp's unvisited strings 

Sound sweet, as if swept by a whispering breeze ! 
'T is done I the sun he has set in blood ! 

He will never set more to the brave ; 
Let us pour to the hero the dirge of death, 

For to-morrow he hies to the grave. 



THANATOS. 

Oh ! who would cherish life, 

And cling unto this heavy clog of clay, 
Love this rude world of strife. 
Where glooms and tempests cloud the fairest day ; 

And where, 'neath outward smiles, 
I Concealed the snake lies feeding on its prey. 
Where pitfalls lie in every flowery way. 

And sirens lure the wanderer to their wiles 1 
Hateful it is to me, 
Its riotous railings and revengeful strife ; 

I'm tired with all its screams and brutal shouts 
Dinning the ear ; — away — away with life ! 
And welcome, oh ! thou silent maid. 
Who in some foggy vault art laid, 



122 THE POEMS OF 

Where never daylight's dazzling ray 

Comes to disturb thy dismal sway ; 

And there amid unwholesome damps dost sleep, 

In such forgetful slumbers deep, 

That all thy senses stupefied 

Are to marble petrified. 

Sleepy Death, I welcome thee ! 

Sweet are thy calms to misery. 

Poppies I will ask no more. 

Nor the fatal hellebore ; 

Death is the best, the only cure. 

His are slumbers ever sure. 

Lay me in the Gothic tomb. 

In whose solemn fretted gloom 

I may He in mouldering state, 

With all tlie grandeur of the great : 

Over me, magnificent. 

Carve a stately monument ; 

Then thereon my statue lay, 

With hands in attitude to pray. 

And angels serve to hold my head, 

Weeping o'er the father dead. 

Duly too at close of day. 

Let the pealing organ play ; 

And while the harmonious thunders roll. 

Chant a vesper to my soul : 

Thus how sweet my sleep will be. 

Shut out from thoughtful misery ! 



KIRKE WHITE. 123 



ATHANATOS. 

AwAT with Death — away 
With all her sluggish sleeps and chilling damps, 

Impervious to the day, 
Where nature sinks into inanity. 
How can the soul desire 
Such hateful nothingness to crave. 
And yield with joy the vital fire 
To moulder in the grave ! 
Yet mortal life is sad, 
Eternal storms molest its sullen sky ; 

And sorrows ever rife 
Drain the sacred fountain dry — 
Away with mortal life ! 
But, hail the calm reality, 
The seraph ImmortaUty ! 
Hail the heavenly bowers of peace. 
Where all the storms of passion cease. 
Wild life's dismaying struggle o'er. 
The wearied spirit weeps no more ; 
But wears the eternal smile of joy. 
Tasting bliss without alloy. 
Welcome, welcome, happy bowers. 
Where no passing tempest lowers ; 
But the azure heavens display 
The everlasting smile of day ; 



124 THE POEMS OF 

Where the choral seraph choir 

Strike to praise the harmonious lyre ; 

And the spirit sinks to ease, 

LulFd by distant symphonies. 

Oh ! to think of meeting there 

The friends whose graves received our tear, 

The daughter loved, the wife adored, 

To our widow'd arms restored ; 

And all the joys which death did sever, 

Given to us again for ever ! 

Who would cling to wretched life. 

And hug the poisoned thorn of strife ; 

Who would not long from earth to fly, 

A sluggish senseless lump to lie. 

When the glorious prospect lies 

Full before his raptured eyes ? 



MUSIC. 

WKITTEN BETWEEN THE AGES OF FOURTEEN AND 

FIFTEEN, WITH A FEW SUBSEQUENT 

VERBAL ALTERATIONS. 

Music, all powerful o'er the human mind. 

Can stiU each mental storm, each tumult calm, 

Soothe anxious care on sleepless couch rechned. 
And e'en fierce Anger's furious rage disarm. 

At her command the various passions lie ; 
She stirs to battle, or she lulls to peace ; 



KIKKE WHITE. 125 

Melts the cliarm'd soul to thrilling ecstasy, 

And bids the jarring world's harsh clangour cease. 

Her martial sounds can fainting troops inspire 
With strength unwonted, and enthusiasm raise , 

Infuse new ardour, and with youthful fire 

Urge on the warrior gray with length of days. 

Far better she, when, with her soothing lyre, 
She charms the falchion from the savage grasp, 

And melting into pity vengeful ire. 

Looses the bloody breastplate's iron clasp. 

With her in pensive mood I long to roam. 

At midnight's hour, or evening's calm decline, 

And thoughtful o'er the falling streamlet's foam, 
In calm seclusion's hermit walks recline. 

Whilst mellow sounds from distant copse arise, 
Of softest flute or reeds harmonic joined, 

With rapture thrilled each worldly passion dies. 
And pleased attention claims the passive mind. 

Soft through the dell the dying strains retire. 
Then burst majestic in the varied swell ; 

Now breathe melodious as the Grecian lyre, 
Or on the ear in sinking cadence dwell. 

Romantic sounds ! such is the bliss ye give, [souL 
That heaven's bright scenes seem bursting on the 

With joy I 'd yield each sensual wish, to live 
For ever 'neath your undefiled control. 



126 THE POEMS OP 

Oh ! surely melody from heaven was sent, 

To cheer the soul when tired with human strife, 

To soothe the wayward heart by sorrow rent, 
And soften down the rugged road of life. 



ON BEING CONFINED TO SCHOOL ONE 
PLEASANT MORNING IN SPRING. 

WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF THIRTEEN. 

The morning sun's enchanting rays 
Now call forth every songster's praise ; 
Now the lark, with upward flight, 
Gaily ushers in the light ; 
While wildly warbling from each tree, 
The birds sing songs to Liberty. 

But for me no songster sings, 
For me no joyous lark upspi'ings ; 
For I, confined in gloomy school. 
Must own the pedant's iron rule, 
And far from sylvan shades and bowers, 
In durance vile must pass the hours ; 
There con the scholiast's dreary lines. 
Where no bright ray of genius shines. 
And close to rugged learning cling. 
While laughs around the jocund spring. 
How gladly would my soul forego 
All that arithmeticians know. 



KIRKE WHITE. 127 

Or stiff grammarians quaintly teach, 
Or all that industry can reach, 
To taste each morn of all the joys 
That with the laughing sun arise ; 
And unconstrained to rove along 
The bushy brakes and glens among ; 
And woo the muse's gentle power 
In unfrequented rural bower : 
But, ah ! such heaven-approaching joys 
Will never greet my longing eyes ; 
Still will they cheat in vision fine, 
Yet never but in fancy shine. 

Oh, that I were the little wren 
That shrilly chirps from yonder glen ! 
Oh, far away I then would rove 
To some secluded bushy grove ; 
There hop and sing with careless glee, 
Hop and sing at liberty ; 
And, till death should stop my lays, 
Far from men would spend my days. 



TO CONTEMPLATION 

WRITTEN AT THP AGE OF FOURTEEN. 

Thee do I own, the prompter of my joys, 
The soother of my cares, inspiring peace ; 
And I will ne'er forsake thee. Men may rave, 
And blame and censure me, that I don't tie 
My ev^ry thoug;ht down to the desk, and spend 



128 THE POEMS OF 

The morning of my life in adding figures 

With accurate monotony ; that so 

The good things of the world may be my lot, 

And I may taste the blessedness of wealth : 

But, oh ! I was not made for money getting; 

For me no much respected plum awaits, 

Nor civic honour, envied. For as still 

I tried to cast with school dexterity 

The interesting sums, my vagrant thoughts 

Would quick revert to many a woodland haunt, 

Which fond remembrance cherished, and the pen 

Dropp'd from my senseless fingers as I pictured, 

In my mind's eye, how on the shores of Trent 

I erewhile wandered with my early friends 

In social intercourse. And then I'd think 

How contrary pursuits had thrown us wide, 

One from the other, scattered o'er the globe ; 

They were set down with sober steadiness. 

Each to his occupation. I alone, 

A wayward youth, misled by Fancy's vagaries, 

Remained unsettled, insecure, and veering 

With every wind to every point of the compass. 

Yes, in the counting-house I could indulge 

In fits of close abstraction ; yea, amid 

The busy bustling crowds could meditate, 

And send my thoughts ten thousand leagues away 

Beyond the Atlantic, resting on my friend. 

Ay, Contemplation, even in earliest youth 

I woo'd thy heavenly influence ! I would walk 

A weary way when all my toils were done, 



KIRKE WHITE. 129 

To lay myself at night in some lone wood, 
And hear the sweet song of the nightingale. 
Oh, those were times of happiness, and still 
To memory doubly dear ; for growing years 
Had not then taught me man was made to mourn ; 
And a short hour of solitary pleasure, 
Stolen from sleep, was ample recompense 
F'or all the hateful bustles of the day. 
My opening mind was ductile then, and plastic, 
And soon the marks of care were worn away, 
While I was swayed by every novel impulse, 
Yielding to all the fancies of the hour. 
But it has now assumed its character ; 
Marked by strong Hneaments, its haughty tone. 
Like the firm oak, would sooner break than bend. 
Yet still, O Contemplation ! I do love 
To indulge thy solemn musings ; still the same, 
With thee alone I know^ to melt and weep. 
In thee alone delighting. Why along 
The dusky track of commerce should I toil. 
When, with an easy competence content, 
I can alone be happy ; where with thee 
I may enjoy the loveliness of Nature, 
And loose the wings of Fancy ? Thus alone 
Can I partake of happiness on earth ; 
And to be happy here is man's chief end, 
For to be happy he must needs be good. 

9 



130 THE POEMS OF 



MY OWN CHARACTER. 

ADDRESSED (DURING ILLNESS) TO A LADY. 

Dear Fanny, I mean, now I'm laid on the shelf. 
To give you a sketch — ay, a sketch of myself. 
'Tis a pitiful subject, I frankly confess. 
And one it would puzzle a painter to dress ; 
But, however, here goes, and as sure as a gun, 
I '11 tell all my faults like a penitent nun ; 
For I know, for my Fanny, before I address her, 
She wont be a cynical father confessor. 

Come, come, 'twill not do! put that curling brow 
down ; 
You can't, for the soul of you, learn how to frown. 
Well, first I premise, it's my honest conviction. 
That my breast is a chaos of all contradiction ; 
Religious — deistic — now loyal and warm ; 
Then a dagger-drawn democrat hot for reform : 
This moment a fop, that, sententious as Titus ; 
Democritus now, and anon Heraclitus ; 
Now laughing and pleased, like a child with a rattle ; 
Then vexed to the soul with impertinent tattle ; 
'Noy moody and sad, now unthinking and gay. 
To all points of the compass I veer in a day. 

I'm proud and disdainful to Fortune's gay child. 
But to Poverty's offspring submissive and mild ; 



KIRKE WHITE. 131 

As rude as a boor, and as rough in dispute ; 
Tiien as for politeness — oh ! dear — I 'm a brute ! 
[ show no respect where I never can feel it ; 
And as for contempt, take no pains to conceal it. 
And so in the suite, by these laudable ends, 
I 've a great many foes, and a very few friends. 

And yet, my dear Fanny, there are who can feel 
That this proud heart of mine is not fashioned ol 

steel. 
It can love (can it not ?) — it can hate, I am sure ; 
And it's friendly enough, though in friends it be 

poor. 
For itself though it bleed not, for others it bleeds ; 
If it have not ripe virtues, I 'm sure it 's the seeds ; 
And though far fi*om faultless, or even so-so, 
I think it may pass as our worldly things go. 

Well, I 've told you my frailties without any gloss 
Then as to my virtues, I 'm quite at a loss ! 
I think I 'm devout, and yet I can't say, 
But in process of time I may get the wi'ong way. 
I 'm a general lover, if that 's commendation, 
And yet can't withstand you know whose fascination. 
But 1 find that amidst all my tricks and devices, 
In fishing for virtues, I 'm pulling up vices ; 
So as for the good, why, if I possess it, 
I am not yet learned enough to express it. 

You yourself must examine the lovelier side, 
And after your every art you have tried. 
Whatever my faults, I may venture to say, 
Hypocrisy never will come in your way. 



132 THE POEMS OF 

I am upright, I hope ; I 'm downright, I 'm clear ! 
And I think my worst foe must allow I 'm sincere ; 
And if ever sincerity glowed in my breast, 
*T is now when I swear . . 



LINES WRITTEN IN WILFORD CHURCHYARD. 

ON RECOVERY FROM SICKNESS. 

Here would I wish to sleep. This is the spot 
Wliich I have long mark'd out to lay my bones in. 
Tired out and wearied with the riotous world, 
Beneath this yew I would be sepulchred. 
It is a lovely spot ! The sultry sun, 
From his meridian height, endeavours vainly 
To pierce the shadoAvy foliage, while the zephyr 
Comes wafting gently o'er the rippUng Trent, 
And plays about my wan cheek. *T is a nook 
Most pleasant. Such a one perchance did Gray 
Frequent, as with a vagrant muse he wantoned. 

Come, I will sit me down and meditate. 
For I am wearied with my summer's walk ; 
And here I may repose in silent ease ; 
And thus, perchance, when life's sad journey 's o'er, 
My harassed soul, in this same spot, may find 
The haven of its rest — beneath this sod 
Perchance may sleep it sweetly, sound as death. 

I would not have my corpse cemented down 



KIRKE WHITE. 133 

With brick and stone, defrauding the poor earth* 

Of its predestined dues ; no, I would he [worm 

Beneath a httle hillock, grass o'ergrown, 

Swath'd down with osiers, just as sleep the cotters. 

Yet may not undistinguished be my grave ; 

But there at eve may some congenial soul 

Duly resort, and shed a pious tear. 

The good man's benison — no more I ask. 

And, oh ! (if heavenly beings may look down 

From where, with cherubim, inspired they sit. 

Upon this little dim-discovered spot. 

The earth,) then will I cast a glance below 

On him who thus my ashes shall embalm ; 

And I will weep too, and will bless the wanderer, 

Wishing he may not long be doom'd to pine 

In this low-thoughted world of darkling woe, 

But that, ere long, he reach his kindred skies. 

Yet 't was a silly thought, as if the body. 
Mouldering beneath the surface of the earth, 
Could taste the sweets of summer scenery, 
And feel the freshness of the balmy breeze ! 
Yet nature speaks within the human bosom. 
And, spite of reason, bids it look beyond 
His narrow verge of being, and provide 
A decent residence for its clayey shell, 
Endear'd to it by time. And who would lay 
His body in the city burial-place, 
To be thrown up again by some rude sexton, 
And yield its narrow house another tenant. 
Ere the moist flesh had mingled with the dust, 



134 THE POEMS OF 

Ere the tenacious hair had left the scalp, 

Exposed to insult lewd, and wantonness ? 

No, I will lay me in the village ground ; 

There are the dead respected. The poor hind, 

Unlettered as he is, would scorn to invade 

The silent resting place of death. I 've seen 

The labourer, returning from his toil. 

Here stay his steps, and call his children round,. 

And slowly spell the rudely sculptured rhymes, 

And, in his rustic manner, moralize. 

I 've marked with what a silent awe he 'd spoken, 

With head uncover'd, his respectful manner. 

And all the honours which he paid the grave, 

And thought on cities, where e'en cemeteries. 

Bestrewed with all the eml)lems of mortality, 

Are not protected from the drunken insolence 

Of wassailers profane, and wanton havoc. 

Grant, Heaven, that liere my pilgrimage may close ! 

Yet, if this be denied, where'er my bones 

May lie — or in the city's crowded bounds. 

Or scattered wide o'er the huge sweep of waters. 

Or left a prey on some deserted shore 

To the rapacious cormorant, — yet still, 

(For why should sober reason cast away 

A thought which soothes the soul ?) yet still my spirit 

Shall wing its way to these my native regions. 

And hover o'er this spot. Oh, then I '11 think 

Of times when I was seated 'neath this yew 

In solemn rumination ; and will smile 

With joy that I have got my longed release. 



KIRKE WHITE. 135 



VERSES. 

Thou base repiner at another s joy, 

Whose eye turns green at merit not thine own, 
Oh, far away from generous Britons fly, 
And find on meaner climes a fitter throne. 
Away, away, it shall not be, 

Thou slialt not dare defile our plains ; 
The truly generous heart disdains 
Thy meaner, lowlier fires, while he 
Joys at another's joy, and smiles at other's jollity. 

Triumphant monster ! though thy schemes suc- 
ceed — 

Schemes laid in Acheron, the brood of night, 
Yet, but a little while, and nobly freed. 

Thy happy victim will emerge to light ; 
Wlien o'er his head in silence that reposes 

Some kindred soul shall come to drop a tear ; 
Then will his last cold pillow turn to roses, 

Which thou hadst planted with the thorn severe ; 
Then will thy baseness stand confess'd, and all 
Will curse the ungenerous fate, that bade a Poet 
fall. 



loC) THE POEMS OF 

LINES. 

Yet, ah ! thy arrows are too keen, too sure : 

Couldst thou not pitch upon another prey ? 
Alas ! in robbing him thou robb'st the poor, 

Wlio only boast what thou wouldst take away. 
See the lone Bard at midnight study sitting ; 

O'er his pale features streams his dying lamp ; 
While o'er fond Fancy's pale perspective flitting. 

Successive forms their fleet ideas stamp. 
Yet say, is bliss upon his brow impressed ? [live ? 

Does jocund Health in Thought's still mansion 
Lo, the cold dews that on his temples rest, 

That short quick sigh — their sad responses give. 

And canst thou rob a poet of his song ; 

Snatch from the bard his trivial meed of praise ? 
Small are his gains, nor does he hold them long ; 

Then leave, oh, leave him to enjoy his lays 
While yet he lives — for, to his merits just. 

Though future ages join his fame to raise. 
Will the loud trump awake his cold unheedinir dusf ? 



LINES. 



Yes, my stray steps have wandered, Avandered fi\ 
From thee, and long, heart-soothing Poesy ! 
And many a flower, which in the passing time 
My heart hath registered, nipped by the chill 



KIRKE WHITE. 137 

Of undeserved neglect, hath shrunk and died. 

Heart-soothing Poesy ! Though thou hast ceased 

To hover o'er the many-voiced strings 

Of my long silent lyre, yet thou canst still 

Call tlie warm tear from its thrice hallowed cell, 

And with recalled images of bliss 

Warm my reluctant heart. Yes, I would throw. 

Once more would throw a quick and hurried hand 

O'er the responding chords. It hath not ceased — 

It cannot, will not cease ; the heavenly warmth 

Plays round my heart, and mantles o'er my cheek ; 

Still, though unbidden, plays. Fair Poesy ! 

The summer and the spring, the wind and rain, 

Sunshine and storm, with various interchange. 

Have marked full many a day, and week, and month. 

Since by dark wood, or hamlet far retired. 

Spell-struck, with thee I loitered. Sorceress ! 

I cannot burst thy bonds. It is but lift 

Thy blue eyes to that deep-bespangled vault, 

Wreathe thy enchanted tresses round thine arm. 

And mutter some obscure and charmed rhyme. 

And I could follow thee, on thy night's work. 

Up to the regions of thrice chastened fire, 

Or, in the caverns of the ocean flood, 

Thrid the light mazes of thy volant foot. 

Yet other duties call me, and mine ear 

Must turn away from the high minstrelsy 

Of thy soul-trancing harp, unwillingly 

Must turn away ; there are severer strains 

(And surely they are sweet as ever smote 



138 THE POEMS OF 

The ear of spirit, from this mortal coil 

Released and disembodied), there are strains 

Forbid to all, save those whom solemn thought, 

Through the probation of revolving years. 

And mighty converse with the spirit of truth, 

Have purged and purified. To these my soul 

Aspireth ; and to this subhmer end 

I gird myself, and climb the toilsome steep 

With patient expectation. Yea, sometimes 

Foretaste of bliss rewards me ; and sometimes 

Spirits unseen upon my footsteps wait. 

And minister strange music, which doth seem 

Now near, now distant, now on high, now low. 

Then swelling from all sides, with bliss complete, 

And full fruition filling all the soul. 

Surely such ministry, though rare, may soothe 

The steep ascent, and cheat the lassitude 

Of toil ; and but that my fond heart 

Reverts to day-dreams of the summer gone. 

When by clear fountain, or embower'd brake, 

I lay a listless muser, prizing, far 

Above all other lore, the poet's theme ; 

But for such recollections 1 could brace 

My stubborn spirit for the arduous path 

Of science unregretting ; eye afar 

Philosophy upon her steepest height. 

And with bold step and resolute attempt 

Pursue her to the innermost recess, 

Where throned in light she sits, the Queen of Truth. 



KIRKE WHITE. 139 



THE PROSTITUTE. 

DACTYLICS. 



Woman of weeping eye, ah ! for thy wretched lot, 
Putting on smiles to lure the lewd passenger, 
Smiling while anguish gnaws at thy heavy heart ; 

Sad is thy chance, thou daughter of misery, 
Vice and disease are wearing thee fiist away, 
While the unfeeHng ones sport with thy sufferings. 

Destined to pamper the vicious one's appetite, 
Spurned by the beings who lured thee from inno- 
cence, 
Sinking unnoticed in sorrow and indigence, 

Thou hast no friends, for they with thy virtue fled ; 
Thou art an outcast from house and from happiness. 
Wandering alone on the wide world's unfeeling stage ! 

Daughter of misery, sad is thy prospect here ; 
Thou hast no friend to soothe down the bed of death ; 
None after thee inquires with solicitude ; 

Famine and fell disease shortly will wear thee down, 
Yet thou hast still to brave often the winter's wind. 
Loathsome to those thou won Ids t court with thine 
hollow eyes. 



140 THE POEMS OF 

Soon thou wilt sink into death's silent slumbering, 

And not a tear shall fall on thy early grave, 

Nor shall a single stone tell where thy bones are laid. 

Once wert thou happy — thou wert once innocent ; 
But the seducer beguiled thee in artlessness, 
Then he abandoned thee unto thine infamy. 

Now he perhaps is rechned on a bed of down : 

But if a wretch like him sleeps in security, 

God of the red right ai^m ! where is thy thunder-bolt? 



KIRKE WHITE. 141 



ODES. 



TO MY LYRE 



Thou simple Lyre ! thy music wild 

Has served to charm the weary hour, 
And many a lonely night has 'guiled, 
Wlien even pain has own'd, and smiled, 
Its fascinating power. 

Yet, O my Lyre ! the busy crowd 

Will little heed thy simple tones ; 
Them mightier minstrels harping loud 
Engross, — and thou and I must shroud 
Where dark oblivion 'thrones. 

No hand, thy diapason o'er, 

Well skill'd I throw with sweep sublime ; 
For me, no academic lore 
Has taught the solemn strain to pour. 

Or build the polished rhyme. 

Yet thou to sylvan themes canst soar ; 

Thou know'st to charm the woodland train ; 
The rustic swains believe thy power 
Can hush the wild winds when they roar, 

And still the billowy main. 



142 THE POEMS OF 

These honours, Lyre, we yet may keep. 

I, still unknown, may live with thee, 
And gentle zephyr's wing will sweep 
Thy solemn string, where low I sleep, 

Beneath the alder tree. 

This little dirge will please me more 

Than the full requiem's swelhng peal ; 
I 'd rather than that crowds should sigh 
For me, that from some kindred eye 
The trickling tear should steal. 

Yet dear to me the wreath of bay, 

Perhaps from me debarred ; 
And dear to me the classic zone, 
Which, snatched from learning's labour'd throne, 

Adorns the accepted bai'd. 

And ! if yet 'twere mine to dwell 

Wliere Cam or Isis winds along. 
Perchance, inspired with ardour chaste, 
I yet might call the ear of taste 

To listen to my song. 

Oh ! then, my little friend, thy style 

I'd change to happier lays, 
Oh ! then the cloistered glooms should smile, 
And throuo-h the lon^r the fretted aisle 

Should swell the note of praise. 



KIRKE WHITE. 143 



TO AN EAKLY PRIMROSE. 

Mild offspring of a dark and sullen sire I 
Wliose modest form, so delicately fine, 

Was nursed in whirling storms, 

And cradled in the winds. 

Thee when young spring first questioned winter's 

sway, 
And dared the sturdy blusterer to the fight, 

Thee on this bank he threw 

To mark his victory. 

In this low vale, the promise of the year. 
Serene thou openest to the nipping gale, 

Unnoticed and alone, 

Thy tender elegance. 

So virlue blooms; brought forth amid the storms 
Of chill adversity, in some lone walk 

Of life she rears her head, 

Obscure and unobserved ; 

While every bleaching breeze that on her blow^ 
Chastens her spotless purity of breast, 

And hardens her to bear 

Serene the ills of life. 



144 THE POEMS OF 



ODE ADDRESSED TO II. FUSELI, Esq. r. a. 

ON SEEING ENGRAVINGS FROM HIS DESIGNS. 

Mighty magician! who on Torneo's brow, 

When sullen tempests wrap the throne of night, 
Art wont to sit and catch the gleam of light 

That shoots athwart the gloom opaque btlow ; 

And listen to the distant death-shriek long 
From lonely mariner foundering in the deep, 
Which rises slowly up the rocky steep, 

While the weird sisters weave the horrid song • 
Or, when along the liquid sky 
Serenely chant the orbs on high, 
Dost love to sit in musing trance. 
And mark the northern meteor's dance 
(Wliile far below the fitful oar 
Flings its faint pauses on the steepy shore), 
And list the music of the breeze. 
That sweeps by fits the bending seas ; 
And often bears with sudden swell 
The shipwrecked sailor's funeral knell, 
By the spirits sung, who keep 
Their night-watch on the treacherous deep, 
And guide the wakeful helmsman's eye 
To Helice in northern sky ; 
And there upon the rock reclined . 
With mighty visions fill'st the mind, 



KIUKE WHITE. 145 

Such as bound in magic spell 
Him * who gx^asp'd the gates of Hell, 
And, bursting Pluto's dark domain. 
Held to the day the terrors of his reign. 

Genius of Horror and romantic awe ! 

Whose eye explores the secrets of the deep, 
Whose power can bid the rebel fluids creep. 

Can force the inmost soul to own its law ; 
Who shall now, sublimest spirit, 
Who shall now thy wand inherit, 
From himf thy darling child who best 
Thy shuddering images expressed ? 
Sullen of soul, and stern, and proud. 
His gloomy spirit spurned the crowd, 
And now he lays his aching head 

In the dark mansion of the silent dead. 

Mighty magician ! long thy wand has lain 
Buried beneath the unfathomable deep ; 
And oh ! for ever must its efforts sleep, 

May none the mystic sceptre e'er regain ? 
Oh, yes, 'tis his ! Thy other son ! 
He throws thy dark-wrought tunic on, 
Fuesslin waves thy wand, — again they rise, 
Again thy wildering forms salute our ravish'd 

Him didst thou cradle on the dizzy steep [eyes. 
Where round his head the vollied lightnings flung, 
And the loud winds that round his pillow rung 

Woo'd the stern infant to the arms of sleep ; 
^ * Dante. t Dante. 

10 



146 IHli. POEMS OF 

Or on the highest top of Teneriffe 
Seated the fearless boy, and bade him look 

Wliere far below the weather-beaten skiff 
On the gulf bottom of the ocean strook. 
Thou mark'dst him drink with ruthless ear 

The death-sob, and, disdaining rest. 
Thou saw'st how danger fired his breast, 
And in his young hand couciied tlic visionary spear. 
Then, Superstition, at thy call. 
She bore the boy to Odin's Hall, 
And set before his awe-struck sight 
The savage feast and spectred fight ; 
And summoned from his mountain tomb 
The ghastly warrior son of gloom, 
His fabled runic rliymes to sing, 
While fierce Hresvelger flapped his wing ; 
Thou show'dst the trains the shepherd sees, 
Laid on the stormy Hebrides, 
Which on the mists of evening gleam. 
Or crowd the foaming desert stream ; 
Lastly her storied hand she waves. 
And lays him in Florentian caves ; 
There milder fables, lovelier themes, 
EnwTap his soul in heavenly dreams, 
There pity's lute arrests his ear. 
And draws the half reluctant tear ; 
And now at noon of night he roves 
Along the embowering moonlight groves, 
And as from many a caverned dell 
The hollow wind is heard to swell, 



KTRKE WHITE. 147 

He thinks some troubled spirit sighs, 
And as upon the turf he lies, 
Where sleeps the silent beam of night, 
He sees below the gliding sprite. 
And hears in Fancy's organs sound 
Aerial music warbling round. 

Taste lastly comes and smooths the whole. 
And breathes her polish o'er his soul ; 
Glowing with wild, yet chastened heat, 
The wondrous work is now complete. 

The Poet dreams : — the shadow flies, 

And fainting fast its image dies. 

But lo ! the Painter's magic force 

Arrests the phantom's fleeting course ; 

It Hves — it lives — the canvas glows. 

And tenfold vigour o'er it flows. 
The Bard beholds the work achieved. 

And as he sees the shadow rise 

Sublime before his wondering eyes, 
Starts at the image his own mind conceived. 



TO THE EARL OF CARLISLE, K. G 

1. 1. 
Retired, remote from human noise. 

An humble Poet dwelt serene ; 
His lot was lowly, yet his joys 
Were manifold, I ween. 



148 THE POEMS OF 

He laid him by the brawling brook 
At eventide to ruminate, 

He watch'd the swallow skimming round, 
And mused, in reverie profound. 
On wayward man's unhappy state, 
And pondered much, and paused on deeds of ancient 
date. 

II. 1. 

" Oh, *t was not always thus," he cried, 

" There was a time, when genius claimed 
Respect from even towering pride. 

Nor hung her head ashamed : 
But now to wealth alone we bow, 

The titled and the rich alone 
Are honoured, wliile meek Merit pines, 
On penury's wretched couch reclines, 
Unlieeded in his dying moan, [known. 

As, overwhelmed with want and woe, he sinks un- 

III. 1. 

" Yet was the muse not always seen 
In poverty's dejected mien. 
Not always did repining rue. 
And misery her steps pursue. 
Time was, when nobles thought their titles graced 
By tlie sweet honours of poetic bays, 
When Sidney sung his melting song, 
When ShefReld joined the harmonious thrang, 
And Lyttelton attuned to love his lays. 



KIIIKE WHITE. 149 

Those days are gone — alas, for ever gone ! 

No more our nobles love to grace 
Their brows with anadems, by genius won, 

But arrogantly deem the muse as base ; 
How differently thought the sires of this degenerate 



race ! " 



I. 2. 



Thus sang the minstrel : — still at eve 

The upland's woody shades among 
In broken measures did he grieve, 

With solitary song. 
And still his shame was aye the same, 

Neglect had stung him to the core ; 
And he with pensive joy did love 
To seek the still congenial grove. 

And muse on all his sorrows o'er, 
And vow that he would join the abjured world no 
more. 

II. 2. 

But human vows, how frail they be ! 

Fame brought Carlisle unto his view, 
And all amazed, he thought to see 

The Augustan age anew. 
Fill'd with wild rapture, up he rose, 
No more he ponders on the woes 
Which erst he felt that forward goes, 

Regrets he'd sunk in impotence. 
And hails the ideal day of virtuous eminence. 



150 THE POEMS OF 

III. 2. 

Ah ! silly man, yet smarting sore 
With ills which in the world he bore, 
Again on futile hope to rest, 
An unsubstantial prop at best, 
And not to know one swallow makes no summer ! 

Ah ! soon he '11 find the brilliant gleam. 
Which flashed across the hemisphere. 
Illumining the darkness there. 

Was but a single solitary beam, 
While all around remained in customed night. 

Still leaden ignorance reigns serene. 
In the false court's delusive height, 

And only one Carlisle is seen 
To illume the heavy gloom with pure and steady 
hght. 



TO contp:mplation. 

Come, pensive sage, who lovest to dwell 
In some retired Lapponian cell. 
Where, far from noise and riot rude, 
Resides sequestered solitude. 
Come, and o'er my longing soul 
Throw thy dark and russet stole, 
And open to my duteous eyes 
The volume of thy mysteries. 



KIRKE WHITE. 151 

I will meet thee on tlie hill, 
Where, with printless footsteps still, 
The morning in her buskin gray 
Springs upon her eastern way ; 
While the froKc zephyrs stir. 
Playing with the gossamer, 
And, on ruder pinions borne, 
Shake the dewdrops from the thorn. 
There, as o'er the fields we pass, 
Brushing with hasty feet the grass, 
We will startle from her nest 
The Hvely lark with speckled breast. 
And hear, the floating clouds among 
Her gale-transported matin song. 
Or on the upland stile, embowered 
With fragrant hawthorn snowy flowered, 
Will sauntering sit, and listen still 
To the herdsman's oaten quill, 
Wafted from the plain below ; 
Or the heifer's frequent low ; 
Or the milkmaid in the grove, 
Singing of one that died for love. 
Or when the noontide heats oppress, 
We will seek the dark recess. 
Where, in the embowrered translucent stream, 
The cattle shun the sultry beam. 
And o'er us on the marge reclined, 
The drowsy fly her horn shall wind, 
While echo, from her ancient oak. 
Shall answer to the woodman's stroke ; 



152 THE POEMS OF 

Or the little peasant's song, 
Wandering lone the glens among, 
His artless lip with berries dyed. 
And feet through ragged shoes descried. 
But oh ! when evening's virgin queen 
Sits on her fringed throne serene, 
And mingling whispers rising near 
Steal on the still reposing ear ; 
While distant brooks decaying round. 
Augment the mixed dissolving sound, 
And the zephyr flitting by 
Whispers mystic harmony. 
We will seek the woody lane. 
By the hamlet, on the plain, 
Where the weary rustic nigh 
Shall whistle his wild melody. 
And the croaking wicket oft 
Shall echo from the neighbouring croft ; 
And as we trace the green path lone. 
With moss and rank weeds overgrown, 
We will muse on pensive lore. 
Till the full soul, brimming o'er. 
Shall in our upturned eyes appear, 
Embodied hi a quivering tear. 
Or else, serenely silent, sit 
By the brawling rivulet. 
Which on its calm unrufl[led breast 
Rears the old mossy arch impressed, 
That clasps its secret stream of glass. 
Half hid in shrubs and wavinor crass. 



KIRKE WHITE. 153 

The wood-nymph's lone secure retreat, 
Unpress'd by fawn or sylvan's feet, 
We 11 watch in eve's ethereal braid 
The rich vermilion slowly fade ; 
Or catch, faint twinkling from afar 
The first glimpse of the eastern star ; 
Fair Yesper, mildest lamp of light, 
That heralds in imperial night : 
Meanwhile, upon our wondering ear, 
Shall rise, though low, yet sweetly clear, 
The distant sounds of pastoral lute, 
Invoking soft the sober suit 
Of dimmest darkness — fitting well 
With love, or sorrow's pensive spell, 
(So erst did music's silver tone 
Wake slumbering Chaos on his throne). 
And haply then, with sudden swell. 
Shall roar the distant curfew bell. 
While in the castle's mouldering tower 
The hooting owl is heard to pour 
Her melancholy song, and scare 
Dull silence brooding in the air. 
Meanwhile her dusk and slumbering car 
Black-suited night drives on from far. 
And Cynthia, 'merging from her rear, 
Arrests the waxing darkness drear, 
And summons to her silent call^ 
Sweeping, in their airy pall, 
The unshrived ghosts, in fairy trance. 
To join her moonshine morris-dance ; 



154 THE POEMS OF 

While around the mystic ring 
The shadowy shapes elastic spring, 
Then with a passing shriek they fly, 
Wrapt in mists, along the sky, 
And oft are bv the shenherd seen 
In his lone night-watch on the green. 

Then, hermit, let us turn our feet 
To the low abbey's still retreat, 
Embowered in the distant glen, 
Far from the haunts of busy men. 
Where as we sit upon the tomb. 
The glowworm's liglit may gild the gloom, 
And show to fancy's saddest eye 
Where some lost hero's ashes lie. 
And oh, as through the mouldering arch, 
With ivy filled and wee[)ing larch, 
The niglit gale whispers sadly clear. 
Speaking dear things to fancy's ear. 
We'll hold communion with the shade 
Of some deep wjviling, ruined maid — 
Or call the ghost of Spenser down. 
To tell of woe and fortune's frown ; 
And bid us cast the eye of hope 
Beyond this bad world's narrow scope. 
Or if these joys, to us denied. 
To linger by the forest's side ; 
Or in the meadow, or the wood. 
Or by the lone, romantic flood ; 
Let us in the busy town, 
When sleep's dull streams the people drown, 



KIKKE WHITE. 155 

Far from drowsy pillows flee, 

And turn the church's massy key ; 

Then, as through the painted glass 

The moon's faint beams obscurely pass, 

And darkly on the trophied wall 

Her faint, ambiguous shadows fall, 

Let us, while the faint winds wail 

Through the long reluctant aisle. 

As we pace with reverence meet. 

Count the echoings of our feet. 

While from the tombs, with confessed breath, 

Distinct responds the voice of death. 

If thou, mild sage, wilt condescend 

Thus on my footsteps to attend. 

To thee my lonely lamp shall burn 

By fallen Genius' sainted urn. 

As o'er the scroll of Time I pore. 

And sagely spell of ancient lore. 

Till I can rightly guess of all 

That Plato could to memory call, 

And scan the formless views of things ; 

Or, with old Egypt's fetter'd kings. 

Arrange the mystic trains that shine 

In night's high philosophic mine ; 

And to thy name shall e'er belong 

The honours of undying song. 



156 THE rOEMS OF 



TO THE GENIUS OF ROMANCE. 

Oh ! thou who, in my early youth, 
When fancy wore the garb of truth, 
Wert wont to win my infant feet 
To some retired, deep-fabled seat, 
Where, by the brooklet's secret tide, 
The midnight ghost was known to glide ; 
Or lay me in some lonely glade. 
In native Sherwood's forest shade, 
Where Robin Hood, the outlaw bold, 
Was wont his sylvan courts to hold ; 
And there, as musing deep I lay, 
Would steal my little soul away, 
And all my pictures represent, 
Of siege and solemn tournament ; 
Or bear me to the magic scene, 
Where, clad in greaves and gabardine, 
The warrior knight of chivalry 
Made many a fierce enchanter flee ; 
And bore the high-born dame away, 
Long held the fell magician's prey. 
Or oft would tell the shuddering tale 
Of murders, and of goblins pale, 
Haunting the guilty baron's side 
(Whose floors with secret blood were dyed), 
Which o'er the vaulted corridor 
On stormy nights was heard to roar. 



KIRKE WHITE. 157 

By old domestic, wakened wide 
By the angry winds that chide : 
Or else the mystic tale would tell 
Of Greensleeve, or of Blue-Beard fell 



TO MIDNIGHT. 

Season of general rest, whose solemn still 
Strikes to the trembling heart a fearful chill, 

But speaks to philosophic souls delight ; 
Thee do I hail, as at my casement high. 
My candle waning melancholy by, 

I sit and taste the holy calm of night. 

Yon pensive orb, that through the ether sails, 
And gilds the misty shadows of the vales, 

Hanging in thy dull rear her vestal tiame 
To her, while all around in sleep recline. 
Wakeful I raise my orisons divine. 

And sing the gentle honours of her name ; 

While Fancy lone o'er me, her votary, bends, 
To lift my soul her fairy visions sends. 

And pours upon my ear her thrilling song, 
And Superstition's gentle terrors come, — 
See, see yon dim ghost gliding through the gloom ! 

See round yon churchyard elm what spectres 
throng 1 



158 THE POEMS OF 

Meanwhile I tune, to some romantic lay, 
My flageolet — and as I pensive play, 

The sweet notes echo o'er the mountain scene : 
The traveller late journeying o'er the moors. 
Hears them aghast, — (w^hile still the dull owl pours 

Her hollow screams each dreary pause between). 

Till in the lonely tower he spies the light. 
Now fahitly flashing on the glooms of night. 

Where I, poor muser, my lone vigils keep, 
And, 'mid the dreary solitude serene, 
Cast a much-meaning glance upon the scene. 

And raise my mournful eye to Heaven, and weep. 



TO THOUGHT. 

WKITTKN AT MIDNICJIIT. 

Hence, away, vindictive thought; 

Tliy pictures are of pain ; 
The visions tln*ough thy dark eye caught, . 
They with no gentle charms are fraught, 
So pr'ythee back again. 
I would not weep, 
I wish to sleep. 
Then why, thou busy foe, with me thy vigils keep ? 

Why dost o'er bed and couch recline ? 

Is this thy new delight ? 
Pale visitant, it is not thine 
To keep thy sentry through the mine, 



KIRKE WHITE. 169 

The dark vault of the night : 
'Tis thine to die, 
While o'er the eye 
The dews of slumber press, and waking sorrows fly. 

Go thou, and bide with him who guides 

His bark through lonely seas ; 
And as reclining on his helm, ^ 

Sadly he marks the starry realm, 
To him thou mayst bring ease : 
But thou to me 

Art misery, [my pillow flee. 

So pr'ythee, pr'ythee, plume thy wings, and from 

And, memory, pray what art thou ? 

Art thou of pleasure born ? 
Does bliss untainted from thee flow ? 
The rose that gems thy pensive brow, 
Is it without a thorn ? 
With all thy smiles. 

And witching wiles, [defiles 

Yet not unfrequent bitterness thy mournful sway 

The drowsy night-watch has forgot 

To call the solemn hour ; 
Luird by the winds, he slumbers deep, 
While I in vain, capricious sleep, 
Invoke thy tardy powder ; 
And restless lie, 
With unclosed eye, 
^nd count the tedious hours as slow they minute by 



160 THE POEMS OF 



GENIUS. 



AN ODE. 



1.1. 

AIany there be, who, through the vale of Ufa, 

With velvet pace, unnoticed, softly go, 
While jarring discord's inharmonious strife 

Awakes them not to woe. 
By them unheeded, carking care. 
Green-eyed grief and dull despair ; 
Smoothly they pursue their way, 

With even tenor and with equal breath, 
Alike through cloudy and througli sunny day, 

Then sink in peace to death. 



II. 1. 

But, ah ! a few there be whom griefs devour. 

And weeping woe, and disappointment keen. 
Repining penury, and sorrow sour. 

And self-consuming spleen. 
And these are Genius' favourites : these 
Know the thought-throned mind to please. 
And from her fleshy seat to draw 

To realms where Fancy's golden orbits roll, 
Disdaining all but 'wildering rapture's law, 

The captivated soul. 



KIRKE WHITE. 161 

m. 1. 

Genius, from thy starry throne, 

High above the burning zone, 

In radiant robe of light arrayed. 

Oh ! hear the plaint by thy sad favourite made ! 

His melancholy moan ! 
He tells of scorn, he tells of broken vows. 

Of sleepless nights, of anguish-ridden days, 
Pangs that his sensibility uprouse 

To curse his being and his thirst for praise. 
Thou gav'st to him with treble force to feel 

The sting of keen neglect, the rich man's scorn. 
And what o'er all does in his soul preside 

Predominant, and tempers him to steel, 
His high indignant pride. 



1.2. 

Lament not ye, who humbly steal through life, 

That Genius visits not your lowly shed ; 
For, ah, what woes and sorrows ever rife 
Distract his hapless head ! 
For him awaits no balmy sleep, 
He wakes all night, and wakes to weep ; 
Or by his lonely lamp he sits 

At solemn midnight, when the peasant sleeps, 
In feverish study, and in moody fits 
His mournful vigils keeps. 
11 



162 THE POEMS OF 



n.2. 

And, oh ! for what consumes his watchful oil ? 

For what does thus he waste life's fleeting 
*Tis for neglect and penury he doth toil, [breath? 

'Tis for untimely death. 
Lo ! where dejected pale he lies, 
Despair depicted in his eyes, 
He feels the vital flame decrease, 

He sees the grave wide yawning for its prey, 
Without a friend to soothe his soul to peace, 

And cheer the expiring ray. 

III. 2. 
By Sulmo's bard of mournful fame. 
By gentle Otway's magic name. 
By him, the youth, who smiled at death, 
And rashly dared to stop his vital breath. 

Will I thy pangs proclaim ; 
For still to misery clo:$ely thou*rt allied. 
Though gaudy pageants glitter by thy side. 

And far resounding Fame. 
What though to thee the dazzled millions bow. 
And to thy posthumous merit bend them low ; 
Though unto thee the monarch looks with awe, 
And thou at thy flash'd car dost nations draw, 
Yet, ah ! unseen behind thee fly 

Corroding Anguish, soul-subduing Pain, 
Old Discontent that clouds the fairest sky, — 
A melancholy train. 



KIRKE WHITE. 163 

Yes, Genius, thee a thousand cares await, 

Mocking thy derided state ; 

Thee chill Adversity will still attend, 

Before whose face flies fast the summer's friend 

And leaves thee all forlorn ; 
While leaden Ignorance rears her head and 
laughs, 
And fat Stupidity shakes his jolly sides, 
And while the cup of affluence he quaffs 

With bee-eyed Wisdom, Genius derides, 
Who toils, and every hardship doth outbrave, 
To gain the meed of praise when he is mouldering 
in his grave. 



FRAGMENT OF AN ODE TO THE MOON. 

Mild orb, who fioatest through the realm of night, 

A pathless wanderer o'er a lonely wild, 
Welcome to me thy soft and pensive light, 

Which oft in childhood my lone thoughts beguiled 
Now doubly dear as o'er my silent seat, 
Nocturnal study's still retreat, 
It casts a mournful melancholy gleam. 
And through my lofty casement weaves, 
Dim through the vine's encircling leaves, 
An intermingled beam. 



164 THE POEMS OF 

These feverish dews that on my temples hang, 
This quivering lip, these eyes of dying flame ; 

These the di^ead signs of many a secret pang. 
These are the meed of him who pants for fame ! 

Pale Moon, from thoughts hke these divert my soul ; 
Lowly I kneel before thy shrine on high ; 

My lamp expires ; — beneath thy mild control 

These restless dreams are ever wont to fly. 

Come, kindred mourner, in my breast 
Soothe these discordant tones to rest, 

And breathe the soul of peace ; 
Mild visitor, I feel thee here. 
It is not pain that brings this tear, 

For thou hast bid it cease. 
Oh ! many a year has pass'd away 
Since I, beneath thy fairy ray, 

Attuned my infant reed ; 
Wlien wilt Ihou, Time, those days restore, 
Those happy moments now no more — 



When on the lake's damp marge I lay. 

And marked the northern meteor's dance, 
Bland Hope and Fancy, ye were there 
To inspirate my trance. 

Twin sisters, faintly now ye deign 
Your magic sweets on rae to shed. 
In vain your powers are now essayed 
To chase superior pam. 



KIRKE WHITE. 165 

And art thou fled, thou welcome orb ! 

So swiftly pleasure flies, 
So to mankind, in darkness lost, 

The beam of ardour dies. 
Wan Moon, thy nightly task is done, 
And now, encurtained in the main. 

Thou sinkest into rest ; 
But I, in vain, on thorny bed 
Shall woo the god of soft repose — 



TO THE MUSE. 

WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF FOURTEEN. 

Ill-fated maid, in whose unhappy train 
Chill poverty and misery are seen. 

Anguish and discontent, the unhappy bane 
Of life, and blackener of each brighter scene ; 

Wliy to thy votaries dost thou give to feel 
So keenly all the scorns — the jeers of life ? 
Why not endow them to endure the strife 

With apathy's invulnerable steel, 

Or self-content and ease, each torturing wound to 
heal? 

Ah ! who would taste your self-deluding joys, 
That lure the unwary to a wretched doom, 

That bid fair views and flattering hopes arise, 
Then hurl them headlong to a lasting tomb ? 

What is the charm which leads thy victims on 



166 THE POEMS OF 

To persevere in paths that lead to woe ? 

What can induce them in that route to go, 
In which innumerous before have gone, 
And died in misery poor and wo-begone ? 

Yet can I ask what charms in thee are found 
I, who have drunk from thine ethereal rill, 

And tasted all the pleasures that abound 
Upon Parnassus' loved Aonian hill? 

I, through whose soul the Muse's strains aye thrill ? 
Oh ! I do feel the spell with which I 'm tied ; 

And though our annals fearful stories tell, 
How Savage languished, and how Otway died, 
Yet must I persevere, let whatever will betide. 



TO LOVE. 

Why should I blush to own I love ? 
'Tis Love that rules the realms above. 
Why should I blush to say to all. 
That Virtue holds my heart in thrall ? 

Why should I seek the thickest shade, 
Lest Love's dear secret be betray'd ? 
Why the stern brow deceitful move, 
When I am languishing with love ? 

Is it weakness thus to dwell 
On passion that I dare not tell ? 
Such weakness I would ever prove ; 
'Tis painful, though 'tis sweet to love. 



KIRKE WHITE. 167 



ON WHIT-MONDAY. 

Hark ! how the merry bells ring jocund round, 
And now they die upon the veering breeze ; 

Anon they thunder loud 

Full on the musing ear. 

Wafted in varying cadence, by the shore 
Of the still twinkling river, they bespeak 

A day of jubilee. 

An ancient hoHday. 

And lo ! the rural revels are begun, 
And gaily echoing to the laughing sky, 

On the smooth shaven green 

Resounds the voice of Mirth. 

Adas ! regardless of the tongue of Fate, 
That tells them 'tis but as an hour since they 

Who now are in their graves 

Kept up the Whitsun dance. 

And that another hour, and they must fall 
Like those who went before, and sleep as still, 

Beneath the silent sod, 

A cold and cheerless sleep. 



168 THE POEMS OF 

Yet why should thoughts like these intrude to scare 
The vagrant Happiness, when she will deign 

To smile upon us here, 

A transient visitor ? 

Mortals ! be ghidsome while ye have the power, 
And laugh and seize the ghttering lapse of joy ; 

In time the bell will toll 

That wai'ns ye to your graves. 

I to the woodland solitude will bend 
My lonesome way — where Mirth's obstreperous 
shout 

Shall not intrude to break 

The meditative hour. 

There will I ponder on the state of man. 
Joyless and sad of heart, and consecrate 

This day of jubilee 

To sad reflection's shrine ; 

And I ^vill cast my fond eye far beyond 
This world of care, to where the steeple loud 

Shall rock above the sod 

Where I shall sleep in peace. 



KIRKE WHITE. 169 



TO THE WIND, AT MIDNIGHT. 

Not unfamiliar to mine ear, 
Blasts of the night ! ye howl ; as now 
My shuddering casement loud 
With fitful force ye beat. 

Mine ear has dwelt in silent awe, 
The howling sweep, the sudden rush ; 
And when the passing gale 
Pour'd deep the hollow dirge. 



TO THE HARVEST MOON. 

Cum ruit imbriferum ver: 
Spicea jam campis cum messis inhorruit, et cum 
Frumenta in viridi stipula lactentia turgent. 

Cuncta tibi Cererem pubes agrestis adorct. 

VIRGIL- 

MooN of Hai'vest, herald mild 
Of plenty, rustic labour's child, 
Hail ! oh hail ! I greet thy beam. 
As soft it trembles o'er the stream. 
And gilds the straw-thatched hamlet wide, 
WTiere Innocence and Peace reside ! 
T is thou that gladd'st with joy the rustic throng. 
Promptest the tripping dance, the exhilarating song. 



170 THE POEMS OF 

Moon of Harvest, I do love 

O'er the uplands now to rove, 

While thy modest ray serene 

Gilfls the wide surrounding scene ; 

And to watch thee riding high 

In the blue vault of the sky. 
Where no thin vapour intercepts thy ray, 
But in unclouded majesty thou walkest on thy way. 

Pleasing 't is, oh ! modest Moon ! 
Now the niglit is at her noon, 
'Neath thy sway to musing he. 
While around the zephyrs sigh, 
Fanning soft the sun-tanned wheat, 
Ripen'd by the summer's heat ; 
Picturing all the rustic's joy 
Wlien boundless plenty greets his eye, 

And thinking soon. 

Oh, modest Moon ! 
How many a female eye will roam 

Along the road. 

To see the load, 
The last dear load of harvest home. 

* 
Storms and tempests, floods and rains, 
Stern despoilers of the plains. 
Hence, away, the season flee. 
Foes to light-heart jollity : 
May no winds careering high 
Drive the clouds along the sky. 



KIRKE WHITE. 171 

But may all nature smile with aspect boon, 
When in the heavens thou show'st thy face, oh 
Harvest Moon ! 

'Neath yon lowly roof he lies. 
The husbandman, with sleep-sealed eyes : 
He dreams of crowded barns, and round 
The yard he hears the flail resound ; 
Oh 1 may no hurricane destroy 
His visionary views of joy ! 
God of the winds ! oh, hear his humble prayer, 
And while the Moon of Harvest shines, thy bluster- 
ing whirlwind spare. 

Sons of luxury, to you 

Leave I sleep's dull power to woo ; 

Press ye still the downy bed, 

While feverish dreams surround your head ; 

I will seek the woodland glade. 

Penetrate the thickest shade. 

Wrapped in contemplation's dreams, 

Musing high on holy themes, 

While on the gale 

Shall softly sail 
The nightingale's enchanting tune. 

And oft my eyes 

Shall grateful rise 
To thee, the modest Harvest Moon ! 



172 THE POEMS OF 



TO THE HERB ROSEMARY.^ 

Sweet scented flower ! who art wont to bloom 

On January's front severe, 

And o'er the wintry desert dreai* 
To waft thy waste perfume ! 
Come, thou shalt form my nosegay now, 
And I will bind thee round my brow ; 

And as I twine the mournful wreath, 
I '11 weave a melancholy song ; 
And sweet the strain shall be, and long. 

The melody of death. 

Come, funeral flower ! who lovest to dwell 
With the pale corse in lonely tomb. 
And throw across the desert gloom 

A sweet decaying smell. 

Come, press my lips, and lie with me 

Beneath the lowly alder tree. 

And we will sleep a pleasant sleep, 

And not a care shall dare intrude 

To break tlie marble sohtude, 
So peaceful and so deep. 

And hark ! the wind god, as he flies. 
Moans hollow in the forest trees, 
Ajad sailing on the gusty breeze, 

* The Rosemary buds in January. It is the flower commonly 
put ill the coffins of the dead. 



KIRKE WHITE. 173 

Mysterious music dies. 
Sweet flower ! that requiem wild is mine, 
It warns me to the lonely shrine, 
The cold turf altar of the dead : 

My grave shall be in yon lone spot, 

Wliere as I lie, by all forgot, 
A dying fragrance thou wilt o'er my ashes shed 



TO THE MORNING. 

WRITTEN DURING ILLNESS. 

Beams of the daybreak faint ! I hail 
Your dubious hues, as on the robe 
Of night, which wraps the slumbering globe, 
I mark your traces pale. 

Tired with the taper's sickly light, 
And with the wearying, numbered night, 
I hail the streaks of morn divine : 
And lo ! they break between the dewy wreaths 
That round my rural casement twine ; 
The fresh gale o'er the green lawn breathes. 
It fans my feverish brow, — it calms the mental strife, 
And cheerily re-illumes the lambent flame of life. 

The lark has her gay song begun, 

She leaves her grassy nest. 
And soars till the unrisen sun 

Gleams on her speckled breast. 



174 THE POEMS OF 

Now let me leave my restless bed, 
And o'er the spangled uplands tread ; 

Now through the customed wood walk wend ; 
By many a green lane lies my way, 

Where high o'er head the wild briers bend, 
Till on the mountain's summit gray, 
I sit me down, and mark the glorious dawn of day. 

Oh Heaven ! the soft refreshing gale, 

It breathes into my breast ! 
My sunk eye gleams ; my cheek, so pale, 

Is with new colours dressed. 
Blithe Health ! thou soul of life and ease ! 
Come thou, too, on the balmy breeze. 

Invigorate my frame : 
I '11 join with thee the buskined chase. 
With thee the distant clime will trace 
Beyond those clouds of fliune. 

Above, below, what charms unfold 

In all the varied view ! 
Before me all is burnished gold. 

Behind the twilight's hue. 
The mists which on old Night await. 
Far to the west they hold their state. 

They shun the clear blue face of Morn ; 

Along the fine cerulean sky 

The fleecy clouds successive fly, 
Wliile bright prismatic beams their shadowy folds 
adorn. 



KIKKE WHITE. 175 

And hark ! the thatcher has begun 

His whistle on the eaves, 
And oft the hedger's bill is heard 

Among the rustling leaves. 
The slow team creaks upon the road, 

The noisy whip resounds, 
The driver's voice, his carol blithe. 
The mower's stroke, his whetting scythe 

Mix with the morning's sounds. 

Who would not rather take his seat 

Beneath these clumps of trees. 
The early dawn of day to greet, 

And catch the healthy breeze, 
Than on the silken couch of Sloth 

Luxurious to lie ; 
Who would not from life's dreary waste 
Snatch, when he could, with eager haste. 

An interval of joy ! 

To him who simply thus recounts 

The morning's pleasures o'er. 
Fate dooms, ere long, the scene must close 

To ope on him no more. 
Yet Morning ! unrepining still, 

He '11 greet thy beams awhile ; 
And surely thou, when o'er his grave 
Solemn the whispering willows wave, 

Wilt sweetly on him smile : 
And the pale glowworm's pensive light [night. 
Will guide his ghostly walks in the drear moonless 



176 TUE POEMS OF 



ON DISAPPOINTMENT. 

Come, Disappointment, come! 

Not in thy terrors clad : 
Come, in thy meekest, saddest guise ; 
Thy chastening rod but terrifies 
The restless and the bad. 
But I recHne 

Beneath thy shrine, [twine. 

A.nd round my brow resigned thy peaceful cypress 

Tliough Fancy flies away 

Before thy hollow tread, 
Yet Meditation, in her cell, 
Hears with faint eye the hngering knell 
That tells her hopes are dead ; 
And though the tear 
By chance appear. 
Yet slie can smile, and say. My all was not laid here. 

Come, Disappointment, come ! 

Though from Hope's summit hurled. 
Still, rigid nurse, thou art forgiven. 
For thou severe wert sent from heaver 
To wean me from the world; 
To turn my eye 
From vanitv, 
And point to scenes of bliss that never, never die. 



KIRKE WHITE. 177 

What is this passing scene ? 

A peevish April day ! 
A little sun — a httle rain, 
And then night sweeps along the plain, 
And all things fade away. 
Man (soon discussed) 
Yields up his trust, 
And all his hopes and fears lie with him in the dust. 

Oh, what is Beauty's power ? 

It flourishes and dies ; 
Will the cold earth its silence break. 
To tell how soft, how smooth a cheek 
Beneath its surface lies ? 
Mute, mute is all 

O'er Beauty's fall ; [pall 

Her praise resounds no more when mantled in hei 

The most beloved on earth 

Not long survives to-day ; 
So music past is obsolete. 
And yet 'twas sweet, 'twas passing sweet, 
But now 'tis gone away. 
Thus does the shade 
In memory fade, 
When in forsaken tomb the form beloved is laid. 

Then since this world is vain, 
And volatile, and fleet, 
12 



178 THE POEMS OF 

Why should I lay up earthly joys, 
Where rust corrupts, and moth destroys, 
And cares and sorrows eat ? 
Wliy fly from ill 
With anxious skill, 
When soon this hand will freeze, this throbbing 
heart be still. 

Come, Disappointment, come ! 

Thou art not stern to me ; 
Sad Monitress ! I own thy sway, 
A votary sad in early day, 
I bend my knee to thee. 
From sun to sun 
My race will run, 
I only bow, and say. My God, thy will be done ! 

On another paper are a few lines, written probably in the 
freshness of his disappointment. 

I dream no more — the vision flies away, 

And Disappointment .... 

There fell my hopes — I lost my all in this, 

My cherished all of visionary bliss. 

Now hope farewell, farewell all joys below ; 

Now welcome sorrow, and now welcome woe. 

Plunge me in glooms .... 



KIRKE WHITE. 179 



ON THE DEATH OF DERMODY, THE POET. 

Child of Misfortune ! Offspring of the Muse ! 
Mark like the meteor's gleam his mad career; 
With hollow cheeks and haggard eye, 
Behold he shrieking passes by : 

I see, 1 see him near : 
That hollow scream, that deepening groan ; 
It rings upon mine ear. 

Oh come, ye thoughtless, ye deluded youth, 
Who clasp the siren pleasure to your breast, 
Behold the wreck of genius here, 
And drop, oh drop the silent tear 

For Dermody at rest : 
His fate is yours, then from your loins 
Tear quick the silken vest. 

Saw'st thou his dying bed ! Saw'st thou his eye, 
Once flashing fire, despair's dim tear distil ; 
How ghastly did it seem ; 
And then his dying scream : 

Oh God ! I hear it still : 
It sounds upon my fainting sense, 
It strikes with deathly chill. 



180 THE POEMS OF 

Say, didst thou mark the brilhant poet's death ; 
Saw's t thou an anxious father by his bed, 
Or pitying friends around him stand : 
Or didst thou see a mother's hand 

Support his languid head ? 
Oh none of these — no friend o'er him 
The balm of pity shed. 

Now come around, ye flippant sons of wealth, 
Sarcastic smile on genius fallen low ; 
Now come around who pant for fame, 
And learn from hence, a poet's name 

Is purchased but by woe : 
And when ambition prompts to rise, 
Oh think of him below. 

For me, poor moralizer, I will run. 
Dejected, to some solitary state : 
The muse has set her seal on me, 
She set her seal on Dermody, 

It is the seal of fate : 
In some lone spot my bones may lie. 
Secure from hunuui hate. 

Yet ere I go I '11 drop one silent tear. 

Where lies unwept the poet's fallen head : 
May peace her banners o'er him wave ; 
For me in my deserted grave 
No friend a tear shall shed : 
Yet may the lily and the rose 
Bloom on my griissy bed. 



KIKKE WHITE. 181 



SONNETS. 
SONNET TO THE RIVER TRENT. 

WRITTEN ON RECOVERY FROM SICKNESS. 

Qnce more, Trent ! along thy pebbly marge 

A pensive invalid, reduced and pale, 
From the close sick-room newly set at large, 

Woos to his wan worn cheek the pleasant gale. 
O ! to his ear how^ musical the tale 

Which fills with joy the throstle's little throat ! 
And all the sounds which on the fresh breeze sail, 

How wildly novel on his senses float ! 
It was on this that many a sleepless night, 

As lone he watched the taper's sickly gleam, 
And at his casement heard, with wild affright, 

The owl's dull wing, and melancholy scream, 
On this he thought, this, this, his sole desire. 
Thus once acrain to hear the warbling woodland cL^^ir. 



SONNET. 

Give me a cottage on some Cambrian wild. 
Where far from cities I may spend my days ; 

And, by the beauties of the scene beguiled, 
May pity man's pursuits and shun his w^ays. 

While on the rock I mark the browsing goat, 



182 THE POEMS OF 

List to the mountain-torrent's distant noise, 
Or the hoarse bittern's solitary note, 

I shall not want the world's delusive joys ; 
But with my little scrip, my book, my lyre, 

Shall think my lot complete, nor covet more ; 
And when, with time, shall wane the vital fire, 

I'll raise my pillow on the desert shore. 
And lay me down to rest where the wild wave 
Shall make sweet music o'er my lonely grave. 



SONNET. =^ 

SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN ADDRESSED BY A FEMALE 
LUNATIC TO A LADY. 

Lady, thou weepest for the Maniac's woe, 

And thou art fair, and thou, like me, art young ; 
Oh ! may thy bosom never, never know 

The pangs with which my wretched heart is wrung. 
I had a mother once — a brother too — 

(Beneath yon yew my father rests his head :) 
I had a lover once, and kind and true. 

But mother, brother, lover, all are fled ! 
Yet, whence the tear which dims thy lovely eye ? 

Oh ! gentle lady — not for me thus weep. 
The green sod soon upon my breast will He, 

And soft and sound will be my peaceful sleep. 
Go thou, and pluck the roses while they bloom — 

My hopes lie buried in the silent tomb. 

* This Quatorzain had its rise from an elegant Sonnet, " occa- 
sioned by seeing a young female Lunatic," written by Mrs. Lojfft, 
and published in the Montlily Min-or. 



KIRKE WHITE. 183 



SONNET. 

Supposed to be written by the unhappy Poet Dermody in a 
Storm, while on board a ship in his Majesty's service 

Lo ! o'er the welkin the tempestuous clouds 
Successive fly, and the loud piping wind 

Rocks the poor sea-boy on the dripping shrouds, 
While the pale pilot, o'er the helm reclined, 

Lists to the changeful storm : and as he plies 
His wakeful task, he oft bethinks him, sad, 
Of wife, and httle home, and chubby lad. 

And the half strangled tear bedews his eyes ; 
I, on the deck, musing on themes forlorn. 

View the drear tempest, and the yawning deep, 

Nought dreading in the green sea's caves to sleep, 
For not for me shall wife or children mourn, 

And the wild winds will ring my funeral knell, 

Sweetly as solemn peal of pious passing-bell. 



SONNET. THE WINTEK TRAVELLER. 

God help thee. Traveller, on thy journey far ; 
The wind is bitter keen, — the snow o'erlays 
The hidden pits, and dangerous hollow ways. 
And darkness will involve thee. No kind star 
To-night will guide thee, Traveller, — and the war 
Of winds and elements on thy head will break, 



184 THE POEMS OF 

And in thy agonizing ear the shriek 

Of spirits howling on their stormy car 

Will often ring appalling — I portend 

A dismal night — and on my wakeful bed 
Thoughts, Traveller, of thee will fill my head, 

And him who rides where winds and waves contend, 
And strives, rude cradled on the seas, to guide 
His lonely bark through the tempestuous tide. 



SONNET. 

BY CAPEL LOFFT, ESQ. 

This Sonnet was addressed to the Author of this volume, and 
was occasioned by several little Quatorzains, misnomered 
Sonnets, which he published in the Monthly Mirror. He begs 
leave to return his thanks to the much respected writer, for 
the permission so politely granted to insert it here, and for the 
good opinion he has been pleased to express of his productions. 

Ye whose aspirings court tlie muse of lays, 
" Severest of those orders which belong, 

Distinct and separate, to Delphic song," 
Why shun the sonnet's undulating maze ? 
And why its name, boast of Petrarchian days. 

Assume, its rules disowned? whom from the 
throng 
The muse selects, their ear the charm obeys 

Of its full harmony : — they fear to w^rong 



KIRKE WHITE. 185 

The sonnet, by adorning with a name 

Of that distinguished import, lays, though sweet, 
Yet not in magic texture taught to meet 

Of that so varied and peculiar frame. 

O think ! to vindicate its genuine praise 

Those it beseems, whose lyre a favouring impulse 
sways. 



SONNET. 

RKCANTATORY, IN REPLY TO THE FOREGOING ELEGANT 
ADMONITION. 

Let the sublimer muse, who, wrapped in night. 
Rides on the raven pennons of the storm. 
Or o'er the field, with purple havoc warm. 

Lashes her steeds, and sings along the fight ; 

Let her, whom more ferocious strains delight, 
Disdain the plaintive sonnet's little form. 
And scorn to its wild cadence to conform. 

The impetuous tenor of her hardy flight. 

But me, far lowest of the sylvan train, 

Who wake the wood-nymphs from the forest 

shade 
With wildest song ; — me, much !)ehooves thy aid 

Of mingled melody, to grace my strain, 

And give it power to please, as soft it flows 

Through the smooth murmurs of thy frequent close. 



18b THE POEMS OF 



SONNET ON HEARING THE SOUNDS OF AN 
^OLIAN HARP. 

So ravishingly soft upon the tide 
Of the infuriate gust, it did career, 
It might have soothed its rugged charioteer, 
And sunk him to a zephyr ; then it died, 
Melting in melody ; — and I descried. 

Borne to some wizard stream, the form appear 
Of Druid sage, who on the far-off ear 
Poured liis lone song, to which the surge replied : 
Or thought I heard the hapless pilgrim's knell. 
Lost in some wild enchanted forest's bounds, 
By unseen beings sung ; or are these sounds 
Such as, 'tis said, at night are known to swell 
By startled shepherd on the lonely heath. 
Keeping his night-watch sad, portending death ? 



SONNET. 

• 

What art thou, Mighty One ! and where thy seat ? 

Thou broodest on the calm that cheers the lands. 

And thou dost bear within thine awful hands 
The rolling thunders and the lightnings fleet. 
Stern on thy dark- wrought car of cloud and wind, 

Thou guidest the northern storm at night's dead 



KIRKE WlIITi:. 187 

Or, on the red wing of the fierce monsoon, 
Disturb*st the sleeping giant of the Ind. 
In the drear silence of the polar span 

Dost thou repose ? or in the solitude 
Of sultry tracts, where the lone caravan 

Hears nightly howl the tiger's hungry brood ? 
Vain thought! the confines of his throne to trace, 
Who glows through all the fields of boundless space. 



SONNET TO CAPEL LOFFT, ESQ. 

LOFFT, unto thee one tributary song 

The simple Muse, admiring, fain would bring ; 

She longs to lisp thee to the listening throng, 
And with thy name to bid the woodlands ring. 

Fain would she blazon all thy virtues forth. 
Thy warm philanthropy, thy justice mild. 

Would say how thou didst foster kindred worth, 
And to thy bosom snatched Misfortune's child : 

Firm she would paint thee, with becoming zeal, 
Upright, and learned, as the Pylian sire. 
Would say how sweetly thou couldst sweep the 
lyre. 

And show thy labours for the public weal. 
Ten thousand virtues tell with joys supreme. 
But ah ! she shrinks abashed before the arduous 
theme. 



188 THE rOEMS OF 



SOKNET TO THE MOON. 

WRITTEN IN NOVEMBER. 

Sublime, emerging from the misty verge 
Of the horizon dim, thee, Moon, I hail, 
As, sweeping o'er the leafless grove, the gale 

Seems to repeat the year's funereal dirge. 

Now Autumn sickens on the languid sight, 

And leaves bestrew the wanderer's lonely way, 

Now unto thee, pale arbitress of night. 
With double joy my homage do I pay. 
When clouds disguise the glories of the day, 

And stern November sheds her boisterous blight, 
How doubly sweet to mark the moony ray 

Shoot through the mist from the ethereal height, 
And, still unchanged, back to the memory bring 
The smiles Favonian of life's earliest spring. 



SONNET WRITTEN AT THE GRAVE OF 
A FRIEND. 

Fast from the west the fading day-streaks fly, 
And ebon Night assumes her solemn sway, 

Yet here alone, unheeding time, I lie. 

And o'er ray friend still pour the plaintive lay. 

Oh ! 't is not long since, George, with thee I wooed 
The maid of musings by yon moaning wave ; 



KIRKE WHITE. 189 

And liail'd the moon's mild beam, wliicli, now re- 
newed, 

Seems sweetly sleeping on thy silent grave ! 
The busy world pursues its boisterous way, 

The noise of revelry still echoes round, 
Yet I am sad w^hile all beside is gay ; 

Yet still I weep o'er thy deserted mound. 
Oh ! that, like thee, I might bid sorrow cease, 
And 'neath the greensward sleep the sleep of peace. 



SONNET TO MISFORTUNE. 

Misfortune, I am young, my chin is bare, 

And I have wondered much when men have told, 
How youth was free from sorrow and from care, 

That thou shouldst dwell with me, and leave the 
old. 
Sure dost not like me ! — Shrivelled hag of hate, 

My phiz, (and thanks to thee,) is sadly long ; 

I am not either, beldame, over strong ; 
Nor do I wish at all to be thy mate. 
For thou, sweet Fury, art my utter hate. 
Nay, shake not thus thy miserable pate ; 
I am yet young, and do not like thy face ; 
And, lest thou shouldst resume the wdld-goose chase, 
I'll tell thee something all thy heat to assuage, 
— Thou wilt not hit my fancy in my age. 



190 THE POEMS OF 



SONNET. 

As thus oppressed with many a heavy care, 
(Though young yet sorrowful), I turn my feet 
To the dark woodland, longing much to greet 
The form of Peace, if chance she sojourn there ; 
Deep thought and dismal, verging to despair, 

Fills my sad breast ; and, tired with this vain coil, 
I shrink dismayed before life's upland toil. 
And iis, amid the leaves, the evening air 
Whis})ers still melody, — 1 think ere long, 

Wilien I no more can hear, these woods will speak ; 
And then a sad smile [)lays upon my cheek. 
And mournful phantasies u[)on me throng. 
And I do j)onder, with most strange delight, 
On the calm slumbers of the dead man's night. 



SONNET TO APRIL. 

Emblem of life! see changeful April sail 
In varying vest along the shadowy skies, 
Now bidding summer's softest zephyrs rise, 

Anon recalling winter's stormy gale, 

And pouring from the cloud her sudden hail ; 

Then, smiUng through the tear that dims her eyes, 
While Iris with her braid the welkin dyes, 

Promise of sunshine, not so prone to fail. 



KIRKE WHITE. 191 

Soj to US, sojourners in life's low vale, 
The smiles of fortune flatter to deceive, 
While still the fates the web of misery weave. 
So Hope exultant spreads her aery sail. 
And from the present gloom the soul conveys 
To distant summers and far happier days. 



SONNET. 

Ye unseen spirits, whose wild melodies, 
At evening rising slow, yet sweetly clear, 
Steal on the musing poet's pensive ear, 

As by the wood-spring stretched supine he lies ; 

When he, who now invokes you, low is laid. 
His tired frame resting on the earth's cold bed ; 

Hold ye your nightly vigils o'er his head. 
And chant a dirge to his reposing shade ! 

For he was wont to love your madrigals ; 
And often by the haunted stream, that laves 
The dark sequestered woodland's inmost caves, 

Would sit and listen to the dying falls, 

Till the full tear would quiver in his eye, 

And his big heart would heave with mournful 
ecstasy. 



192 THE rOEMS OF 



SONNET TO A TAPER. 

Tis midniglit. On the globe dead slumber sits, 

And all is silence — in the hour of sleep ; 
Save when the hollow gust, that swells by fits, 

In the dark wood roars fearfully and deep. 
I wake alone To listen and to weep, 

To watch my taper, thy pale beacon burn ; 
And, as still Memory does her vigils keep, 

To think of days that never can return. 
By thy pale ray I raise my languid head, 

My eye surveys the solitary gloom ; 
And the sad meaning tear, unmixed with dread. 

Tells thou dost light me to the silent tomb. 
Like thee I wane ; — like thine my life*s last ray 
Will fade in loneliness, unwept, away. 



SONNET TO MY MOTHER. 

And canst thou, Mother, for a moment think 
That we, thy children, when old age shall shed 
Its blancliing honours on thy weary head, 

Could from our best of duties ever shrink ? 

So«mer the sun from his high sphere should sink 
Than we, ungrateful, leave thee in that day, 
To pine in solitude thy life away. 

Or shun thee, tottering on the grave's cold brink. 



KIRKE WHITE. 193 

Banish the thought ! — where'er our steps may roam, 
O'er smiling plains, or wastes without a tree, 
Still will fond memory pomt our hearts to thee, 

And paint the pleasures of thy peaceful home ; 

While duty bids us all thy griefs assuage. 

And smooth the pillow of thy sinking age. 



SONNET. 
Yes, 't will be over soon. — This sickly dream 

Of life will vanish from my feverish brain ; 
And death my wearied spirit will redeem 

From this wild region of unvaried pain. 
Yon brook will glide as softly as before, 

Yon landscape smile, yon golden harvest grow, 
Yon sprightly lark on mountain wing will soar 

When Henry's name is heard no more below. 
I sigh when all my youthful friends caress. 

They laugh in health, and future evils brave ; 
Them shall a wife and smiling children bless, 

While I am mouldering in the silent grave. 
God of the just. Thou gavest the bitter cup ; 
I bow to thy behest, and drink it up. 



SONNET TO CONSUMPTION. 
Gentl y, most gently, on thy victim's head. 
Consumption, lay thine hand ! — let me decay 
Like the expiring lamp, unseen, away. 
And softly go to slumber with the dead. 

13 



194 THE POEMS 01 

And if 'tis true, what holy men liave said, 
That strains angelic oft foretell the day 
Of death to those good men who fall thy prey, 

O let the aerial music round my bed, 

Dissolving sad in dying symphony, 

Whisper the solemn warning in mine ear ; 

That I may bid my weeping friends good-by 
Ere I depart upon my journey drear ; 

And, smiling faintly on the painful past. 

Compose my decent head, and breathe my last. 



SONNET. 

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF M. DESBARREAUX. 

Thy judgments, Lord, are just : thou lovest to wear 

The face of pity and of love divine ; 
But mine is guilt — thou must not, canst not spare. 

While heaven is true, and equity is thine. 
Yes, oh my God ! — such crimes as mine, so dread, 

Leave but the choice of punishment to thee ; 
Thy interest calls for judgment on my head. 

And even thy mercy dares not plead for me ! 
Thy will be done, since 'tis thy glory's due, 

Did from mine eyes the endless torrents flow ; 
Smite — it is time — though endless death ensue, 

I bless the avenging hand that lays me low. 

ut on what spot shall fall thine anger's flood, 

hat has not first been drenched in Christ's atoning 
blood? 



KIRKE WHITE. 195 



SONNET. 



When I sit musing on the chequered past 
(A term much darkened with untimely woes), 
My thoughts revert to her, for whom still flows 

The tear, though half disowned; and binding fast 

Pride's stubborn cheat to my too yielding heart, 
I say to her she robbed me of my rest, 
When that was all my wealth. 'Tis true my breast 

Received from her this wearying, lingering smart ; 

Yet, ah ! I cannot bid her form depart ; 

Though wronged, I love her — yet in anger love, 
For she was most unworthy. — Then I prove 

Vindictive joy ; and on my stern front gleams, 

Throned in dark clouds, inflexible . . . 

The native pride of my much injured heart. 



SONNET. 

Sweet to the gay of heart is Summer's smile. 

Sweet the wild music of the laughing Spring ; 
But ah ! my soul far other scenes beguile, 

Where gloomy storms their sullen shadows fling 
Is it for me to strike the Idalian string — 

Kaise the soft music of the warbling wire, 
While in my ears the howls of furies ring, 

And melancholy wastes the vital fire ? 



196 THE POEMS GF 

Away with thoughts like these — to some lone cave 
Where howls the shrill blast, and where sweeps 
the wave, 

Direct my steps ; there, in the lonely drear, 
I'll sit remote from worldly noise, and muse 
Till through my soul shall Peace her balm infuse, 

And whisper sounds of comfort in mine ear. 



SONNET. 

Quick o'er the wintry waste dart fiery shafts — 

Bleak blows the blast — now howls — then faintly 
dies — 
And oft upon its awful wings it wafts 

The dying wanderer's distant, feeble cries. 
Now, when athwart the gloom gaunt Horror stalks, 

And midnight hags their damned vigils hold, 
The pensive poet 'mid the wild waste walks. 

And ponders on the ills life's paths unfold. 
Mindless of dangers hovering round, he goes. 

Insensible to every outward ill ; 
Yet oft his bosom heaves with rending throes. 

And oft big tears adown his worn cheeks trill. 
Ah ! 'tis the anguish of a mental sore. 
Which gnaws his heart, and bids him hope no more. 



KIRKE WHITE. 197 



BALLADS, SONGS, AND HYMNS. 



GONDOLINE. 

A BALLAD. 

The night it was still, and the moon it shone 

Serenely on the sea, 
And the waves at the foot of the rifted rock 

They murmured pleasantly, 

When Gondoline roamed along the shore, 

A maiden full fair to the sight ; 
Though love had made bleak the rose on her cheek, 

And turned it to deadly white. 

Her thoughts they were drear, and the silent tear 

It filled her faint blue eye. 
As oft she heard, in fancy's ear, 

Her Bertrand's dying sigh. 

Her Bertrand was the bravest youth 

Of all our good king's men, 
And he was gone to the Holy Land 

To fight the Saracen. 



X98 THE POEMS OF 

And many a month had passed away, 
And many a rolling year, 

But nothing the maid from Palestine 
Could of her lover hear. 



Full oft she vainly tried to pierce 

The ocean's misty face ; 
Full oft she thought her lover's bark 

She on the wave could trace. 

And every night she placed a light 
In the high rock's lonely tower, 

To guide her lover to the land, 

Should the murky tempest lower. 

But now despair had seized her breast. 

And sunken in her eye ; 
" Oh tell me but if Bertrand live, 

And I in peace will die." 

She wander'd o'er the lonely shore. 

The curlew screamed above. 
She heard the scream with a sickening heart, 

Much boding on her love. 

Yet still she kept her lonely way, 

And this was all her cry. 
" Oh ! tell me but if Bertrand Hve, 

And I in peace shall die." 



KIRKE WHITE. 199 

And now she came to a horrible rift 

All in the rock's hard side, 
A bleak and blasted oak o'erspread 

The cavern yawning wide. 

And pendant from its dismal top 

The deadly nightshade hung ; 
The hemlock and the aconite 

Across the mouth was flung. 

And all witliin was dark and drear, 

And all without was calm ; 
Yet Gondoline entered, her soul upheld 

By some deep-working charm. 

And as she entered the cavern wide, 

The moonbeam gleamed pale, 
And she saw a snake on the craggy rock, 

It clung by its slimy tail. 

Her foot it slipped, and she stood aghast, 

She trod on a bloated toad ; 
Yet, still upheld by the secret charm. 

She kept upon her road. 

And now upon her frozen ear 

Mysterious sounds arose ; 
So, on the mountain's piny top 

The blustering north wind blows. 



200 THE rOEMS OF 

Then furious peals of laughter loud 

Were heard with thundering sound. 

Till they died away in soft decay, 
Low whispering o'er the ground. 

Yet still the maiden onward went, 
The charm yet onward led, 

Though each big glaring ball of sight 
Seem'd bursting from her head. 

But now a pale blue light she saw. 
It from a distance came ; 

She followed, till upon her sight 
Burst full a flood of flame. 

She stood appalled ; yet still the charm 
Upheld her sinking soul ; 

Yet each bent knee the other smote. 
And each wild eye did roll. 

And such a sight as she saw there 

No mortal saw before, 
And such a sight as she saw there 

No mortal shall see more. 

A burning cauldron stood in the midst, 
The flame was fierce and high. 

And all the cave so wide and long 
Was plainly seen thereby. 



KIRKE WHITE. 201 

And round about the cauldron stout 
Twelve withered witches stood ; 

Their waists were bound with living snakes, 
And their hair was stiff with blood. 

Their hands were gory too ; and red 
And fiercely flamed their eyes : 

And they were muttering indistinct 
Their hellish mysteries. 

And suddenly they joined their hands, 

And utter'd a joyous cry, 
And round about the cauldron stout 

They danced right merrily. 

And now they stopped ; and each prepared 

To tell what she had done. 
Since last the lady of the night 

Her waning course had run. 

Behind a rock stood Gondoline, 

Thick weeds her face did veil, 
And she leaned fearful forwarder, 

To hear the dreadful tale. 

The first arose : She said she'd seen 

Rare sport since the blind cat mewed, 

She 'd been to sea in a leaky sieve. 
And a jovial storm had brewed. 



202 THE POEMS OP 

She'd called around the winged winds, 

And raised a devilish rout ; 
And she laughed so loud, the peals were heard 

Full fifteen leagues about. 

She said there was a httle bark 

Upon the roaring wave, 
And there was a woman there who'd been 

To see her husband's grave. 

And she had got a child in her arms. 

It was her only child, 
And oft its little infant pranks 

Her heavy heart beguiled. 

And there was too in that same bark 

A father and his son : 
The lad was sickly, and the sire 

Was old and woe-begone. 

And when the tempest waxed strong. 

And the bark could no more it 'bide. 

She said it was jovial fun to hear 
How the poor devils cried. 

The mother clasped her orphan child 

Unto her breast and wept ; 
And sweetly folded in her arms 

The careless baby slept. 



KIRKE WHITE. 203 

And she told how, in the shape of the wmd, 

As manfully it roared, 
She twisted her hand in the infant's hair, 

And threw it overboard. 

And to have seen the mother's pangs, 

'T was a glorious sight to see ; 
The crew could scarcely hold her down 

From jumping in the sea. 

The hag held a lock of her hair in her hand. 

And it was soft and fair : 
It must have been a lovely child. 

To have had such lovely hair. 

And she said the father in his arms 

He held his sickly son. 
And his dying throes they fast arose. 

His pains were nearly done. 

And she throttled the youth with her sinewy hands, 

And his face grew deadly blue ; 
And the father he tore his thin gray hair, 

And kissed the livid hue. 

And then she told how she bored a hole 

In the bark, and it fill'd away ; 
And 'twas rare to hear how some did swear. 

And some did vow and pray. 



204 THE POEMS OF 

The man and woman they soon were dead, 
The sailors their strength did urge ; 

But the billows that beat were their winding-sheet, 
And the winds sung their funeral dirge. 

She threw the infant's hair in the fire, 

The red fiame flamed high, 
And round about the cauldron stout 

They danced right merrily. 

The second begun : She said she had done 
The task that Queen Hecate had set her, 

And that the devil, the father of evil, 
Had never accomplished a better. 

She said, there was an aged woman, 

And she bad a daughter fair, 
Wliose evil habits filled her heart 

With misery and care. 

The daughter had a paramour, 

A wicked man was he. 
And oft the woman him against 

Did murmur gi-ievously. 

And the hag had worked the daughter up 

To murder her old mother, 
Tliat then she might seize on all her goods, 

And wanton with her lover. 



KIRKE WHITE. 205 

And one night as the old woman 

Was sick and ill in bed, 
And pondering solely on the life 

Her wicked daughter led, 

She heard her footstep on the floor, 
And she raised her pallid head, 

And she saw her daughter, with a knife, 
Approaching to her bed. 

And said, " My child, I 'm very ill, 

I have not long to live, 
Now kiss my cheek, that ere I die 

Thy sins I may forgive." 

And the murderess bent to kiss her cheek, 
And she lifted the sharp bright knife, 

And the mother saw her fell intent. 
And hard she begged for life. 

But prayers would nothing her avail, 
And she screamed aloud with fear, 

But the house was lone, and the piercing screamy 
Could reach no human ear. 

And though that she was sick, and old. 
She struggled hard, and fought ; 

The murderess cut three fingers through 
Ere she could reach her throat. 



206 THE POEMS OF 

And the hag she held her fingers up, 
The skin was mangled sore, 

And they all agreed a nobler deed 
Was never done before. 

And she threw the fingers in the fire. 
The red flame flamed high, 

And round about the cauldron stout 
They danced right merrily. 

The third arose : She said she *d been 

To holy Palestine ; 
And seen more blood in one short day 

Than they had all seen in nine. 

Now GondoHne, with fearful steps, 
Drew nearer to tlie flame, 

For much she dreaded now to hear 
Her hapless lover's name. 

The hag related then the sports 

Of that eventful day, 
When on the well contested field 

Full fifteen thousand lay. 

She said that she in human gore 
Above the knees did wade. 

And that no tongue could truly tell 
The tricks she there had played. 



KIRKE WHITE. 207 

There was a gallant featured youth, 

Who like a hero fought ; 
He kiss'd a bracelet on his wrist, 

And every danger sought. 

And in a vassal's garb disguised, 

Unto the knight she sues, 
And tells him she from Britain comes, 

And brings unwelcome news. 

That three days ere she had embarked, 

His love had given her hand 
Unto a wealthy Thane : — and thought 

Him dead in Holy Land. 

And to have seen how he did writhe 

When this her tale she told. 
It would have made a wizard's blood 

Within his heart run cold. 

Then fierce he spurred his warrior steed, 

And sought the battle's bed ; 
And soon all mangled o'er with wounds 

He on the cold turf bled. 

And from his smoking corse she tore 

His head, half clove in two. 
She ceased, and from beneath her garb 

The bloody trophy drew. 



208 THE POEMS OF 

The eyes were starting from their socks, 
The mouth it ghastly grinned, 

And there was a gash across the brow, 
The scalp was nearly skinned. 

'T was Bertrand^s head ! With a terrible scream 

The maiden gave a spring 
And from her fearful hiding-place 

She fell into the ring. 

The lights they fled — the cauldron sunk, 
Deep thunders shook the dome. 

And hollow peals of laughter came 
Resounding through the gloom. 

Insensible the maiden lay 

Upon the hellish ground, 
And still mysterious sounds were heard 

At intervals around. 

She woke — she half arose — and wild 

She cast a horrid glare, 
The sounds had ceased, the lights had fled. 

And all was stillness there. 

And through an awning in the rock 

The moon it sweetly shone, 
And showed a river in the cave 

Wliich dismally did moan. 



KIRKE WHITE. 209 

The stream was black, it sounded deep 
As it rushed the rocks between. 

It offered well, for madness fired 
The breast of Gondoline. 

She plunged in, the torrent moaned 

With its accustomed sound, 
And hollow peals of laughter loud 

Again rebellowed round. 

The maid was seen no more. — But oft 

Her ghost is known to glide, 
At midnight's silent, solemn hour. 

Along the ocean's side. 



A BALLAD. 

Be hushed, be hushed, ye bitter winds, 

Ye pelting rains, a little rest ; 
Lie still, lie still, ye busy thoughts. 

That wring with grief my aching breast. 

Oh ! cruel was my faithless love. 
To triumph o'er an artless maid ; 

Oh ! cruel was my faithless love, 

To leave the breast by him betrayed. 

When exiled from my native home, 
He should have wiped the bitter tear ; 

Nor left me faint and lone to roam, 
A heart-sick weary wanderer here. 
14 



210 THE POEMS OF 

My child moans sadly in my arms, 
The winds they will not let it sleep : 

Ah, little knows the haplass babe 

What makes its wretched mother weep ^ 

Now lie thee still, my infant dear, 
I cannot bear thy sobs to see, 

Harsh is thy father, little one, 
And never will he shelter thee. 

Oh, that I w^ere but in my grave, 

And winds were piping o'er me loud. 

And thou, my poor, my orphan babe, 
Wert nesthng in thy mother's shroud ! 



THE LULLABY OF A FEMALE CONVICT TO 

HER CHILD THE NIGHT PREVIOUS 

TO EXECUTION. 

Sleep, baby mine,* enkerchiefl on my bosom, 
Thy cries they pierce again my bleeding breast ; 

Sleep, baby mine, not long thou 'It have a mother 
To lull thee fondly in her arms to rest. 

Baby, why dost thou keep this sad complaining? 

Long from mine eyes have kindly slumbers fled ; 
Hush, hush, my babe, the night is quickly waning, 

And I w^ould fain compose my aching head. 

• Sir Philip Sidney has a poem, beginning, " Sleep, baby 
mine.'* 



KIRKE WHITE. 211 

Poor wayward wretch ! and wlio will heed thy 
weeping, 
Wlien soon an outcast on the world thou 'It be ? 
iVTio then will soothe thee, when thy mother's sleep- 
ing 
In her low grave of shame and infamy ? 

Sleep, baby mine — to-morrow I must leave thee, 
And I would snatch an interval of rest : 

Sleep these last moments ere the laws bereave thee, 
For never more thou 'It press a mother's breast. 



THE SAVOYARD'S RETURN. 

Oh ! yonder is the well known spot, 

My dear, my long lost native home I 
Oh, welcome is yon little cot. 

Where I. shall rest, no more to roam ! 
Oh ! I have travelled far and w^ide. 

O'er many a distant foreign land ; 
Each place, each province I have tried, 

And sung and danced my saraband. 
But all their charms could not prevail 
To steal my heart from yonder vale. 

Of distant climes the false report, 
It lured me from my native land ; 



212 THE POEMS OF 

It bade me rove — my sole support 

My cymbals and my saraband. 
The woody dell, the hanging rock, 

The chamois skipping o'er the heights ; 
The plain adorned with many a flock. 
And, oh ! a thousand more delights, 
That grace yon dear beloved retreat, 
Have backward won my weary feet. 

Now safe returned, with wandering tired, 

No more my little home 1 '11 leave ; 
And many a tale of what I 've seen 

Shall while away the winter's eve. ' 
Oh ! I have wandered far and wide. 

O'er many a distant foreign land ; 
Each place, each province I have tried. 

And sung and danced my saraband ; 
But all their charms could not prevail 
To steal my heart from yonder vale. 



A PASTORAL SONG. 

Come, Aima ! come, the morning dawns. 

Faint streaks of radiance tinge the skies ; 
Come, let us seek the dewy lawns. 
And watch the early lark arise ; 
Wliile ns^ture, clad in vesture gay, 
Hails the loved return of day. 



KIRKE WHITE^ 213 

Our flocks, that nip the scanty blade 

Upon the moor, shall seek the vale ; 
And then, secure beneath the shade, 
We '11 listen to the throstle's tale ; 
And watch the silver clouds above, 
As o'er the azure vault they rove. 

Come, Anna ! come, and bring thy lute. 

That with its tones, so softly sweet, 
In cadence with ray mellow flute, 
We may beguile the noontide heat ; 
While near the mellow bee shall join, 
To raise a harmony divine. 

And then at eve, when silence reigns. 

Except when heard the beetle's hum, 
We'll leave the sober tinted plains. 

To these sweet heights again we '11 come ; 
And thou to thy soft lute shalt play 
A solemn vesper to departing day. 



MELODY. 

Yes, once more that dying strain, 
Anna, touch thy lute for me ; 

Sweet, when pity's tones complain, 
Doubly sweet is melody. 



214 THE POEMS OF 

While the Virtues thus enweave 
Mildly soft the thrilling song, 

Winter's long and lonesome eve 
Glides unfelt, unseen, along. 



Thus when life hath stolen away, 
And the wintry night is near, 

Thus shall virtue*s friendly ray 
Age's closing evening, cheer. 



SONG. 



BY WALLER. 



A Lady of Cambridge lent Waller's Poems to the Author, and 
when he returned them to her, she discovered an additional 
stanza written by him at the bottom of the song here copied. 

Go, lovely rose ! 
Tell her, that wastes her time on me, 

That now she knows, 
When I resemble her to thee. 
How sweet and fair she seems to be. 

Tell her that's young, 
And shuns to have her graces spied, 

That hadst thou sprung 
In deserts, where no men abide. 
Thou must have uncommended died. 



KIRKE WHITE. 215 

Small is the worth 
Of beauty from the light retired ; 

Bid her come forth, 
Suffer herself to be desired, 
And not blush so to be admired. 

Then die, that she 
The common fate of all things rare 

May read in thee ; 
How small a part of time they share. 
That are so wondrous sweet and fair. 

[Yet, though thou fade, 
From thy dead leaves let fragrance rise ; 

And teach the maid 
That Goodness Time's rude hand defies. 
That Virtue lives when Beauty dies. 

H. K. WHITE.] 



THE WANDERING BOY. 

A SONG. 

When the winter wind whistles along the wild 

moor. 
And the cottager shuts on the beggar his door ; 
When the chilling tear stands in my comfortless eye, 
Oh, how hard is the lot of the Wandering Boy 



210 THE POEMS OF 

The winter is cold, and I have no vest, 
And my heart it is cold as it beats in my breast ; 
No father, no mother, no kindred have I, 
For I am a parentless Wandering Boy. 

Yet I had a home, and I once had a sire, 
A mother who granted each infant desire ; 
Our cottage it stood in a wood-embowered vale, 
Where the ringdove would warble its sorrowful 
tale. 

But my father and mother were summoned away. 
And they left me to hard-hearted strangers a prey ; 
I fled from their rigour with many a sigh. 
And now I'm a poor little Wandering Boy. 

The wind it is keen, and the snow loads the gale. 
And no one will list to my innocent tale ; 
I'll go to the grave where my parents both lie, 
And death shall befriend the poor Wandering Boy. 



CANZONET. 

Maiden ! wrap thy mantle round thee, 
Cold the rain beats on thy breast : 

Why should Horror's voice astound thee ? 
Death can bid the wretched rest ! 



KIRKE WniTE. 217 

All under the tree 
Thy bed may be, 
And thou mayst slumber peacefully. 

Maiden ! once gay pleasure knew thee ; 

Now thy cheeks are pale and deep : 
Love has been a felon to thee, 
Yet, poor maiden, do not weep ; 
There 's rest for thee 
All under the tree, 
Where thou wilt sleep most peacefully. 



SONG. 

WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF FOURTEEN. 

Softly, softly blow, ye breezes, 

Gently o'er my Edwy fly ! 
Lo ! he slumbers, slumbers sweetly ; 
Softly, zephyrs, pass him by ! 
My love is asleep, 
He lies by the deep. 
All along where the salt waves sigh. 

I have covered him with rushes. 
Water-flags, and branches dry. 

Edwy, long have been thy slumbers ; 
Edwy, Edwy, ope thine eye ! 



218 THE POEMS OF 

My love is asleep, 
He lies by the deep, 
All along where the salt waves sigh. 

Still he sleeps ; he will not waken, 

Fastly closed is his eye ; 
Paler is his cheek, and chiller 
Than the icy moon on high. 
Alas ! he is dead. 
He has chose his death-bed 
All along where the salt waves sigh. 

Is it, is it so, my Edwy ? 

Will thy slumbers never fly ? 
Couldst thou think I would survive thee ? 
No, my love, thou bid'st me die. 
Thou bid'st me seek 
Thy death-bed bleak 
All along where the salt waves sigh. 

I will gently kiss thy cold lips. 

On thy breast I'll lay my head, 
And the winds shall sing our death dirge. 
And our shroud the waters spread ; 
The moon will smile sweet. 
And the wild wave will beat, 
Oh ! so softly o'er our lonely bed. 



KIRKE VTHITE. 219 



THE SHIPWRECKED SOLITARY'S SONG 
TO THE NIGHT. 

Thou, spirit of the spangled night ! 
I woo thee from the watchtower high, 
Where thou dost sit to guide the bark 
Of lonely mariner. 

The winds are w^histling o'er the wolds, 
The distant main is moaning low ; 
Come, let us sit and weave a song — 
A melancholy song ! 

Sweet is the scented gale of morn, 
And sweet the noontide's fervid beam, 
But sweeter far the solemn calm 

That marks thy mournful reign. 

I 've passed here many a lonely year, 
And never human voice have heard ; 
I've pass'd here many a lonely year, 
A solitary man. 

And I have lingered in the shade. 
From suUry noon's hot beams ; and I 
Have knelt before my wicker door. 
To sing my evening song. 



220 THE rOEMS OF 

And I have hailed the gray morn high, 
On the blue mountain's misty brow, 
And tried to tune my httle reed 
To hymns of harmony. 

But never could I tune my reed, 
At morn, or noon, or eve, so sweet. 
As when upon the ocean shore 
I haird thy star-beam mild. 

The dayspring brings not joy to me. 
The moon it whispers not of peace ; 
But oh ! when darkness robes the heavens, 
My woes are mix'd with joy. 

And then I talk, and often think 
Aerial voices answer me ; 
And oh ! I am not then alone — 
A solitary man. 

And when the blustering winter winds 
Howl in the woods that clothe my cave, 
I lay me on my lonely mat, 

And pleasant are my dreams. 

And fancy gives me back ray wife ; 
And fancy gives me back my child ; 
She gives me back my little home. 
And all its placid joys. 



KIllKE WHITE. 221 

Then hateful is the morning hour, 
That calls me from the dream of bliss, 
To find myself still lone, and hear 
The same dull sounds again. 

The deep-toned winds, the moaning sea, 
The whispering of the boding trees, 
The brook's eternal flow, and oft 
The condor's hollow scream. 



THE WONDERFUL JUGGLER. 

A SONG. 

Come all ye true hearts, who, Old England to save, 
Now shoulder the musket, or plough the rough wave. 
I will sing you a song of a wonderful fellow, 
Wlio has ruined Jack Pudding, and broke Punchi- 
nello. 

Derry down, down, high derry down. 

This juggler is little, and ugly, and black. 
But, like Atlas, he stalks with the world at his back ; 
'Tis certain, all fear of the devil he scorns ; 
Some say they are cousins; w^e know he wears 
horns. 

Derry down. 



222 THE rOKMS OF 

At hop, skip, and jump, who so famous as he ? 
He hopped o'er an army, he skipped o'er the sea ; 
And he jumped from the desk of a village attorney 
To the throne of the Bourbons — a pretty long jour- 
ney. 

Derry down. 

He tosses up kingdoms the same as a ball, 
And his cup is so fashioned it catches them ail ; 
The Pope and Grand Turk have been heard to de- 
clare 
His skill at the long bow has made them both htare. 

Derry down. 

He has shown off his tricks in France, Italy, Spain ; 
And Germany too knows his legerdemain ; 
So hearing John Bull hjis a taste for strange sights. 
He's coming to London to put us to rights. 

Derry down. 

To encourage his puppets to venture tliis trip. 
He has built them such boats iis can conquer a ship ; 
With a gun of good metal, that shoots out so far, 
It can silence the broadsides of three men of war. 

Derry down. 

This new Katterfelto, his show to complete, 
Means his boats should all sink as they pass by our 
fleet; 



KIRKE WHITE. 223 

Then, as under the ocean their course they steer 

right on, [Triton. 

They can pepper their foes from the bed of old 

Derry down. 

If this project should fail, he has others in store ; 
Wooden horses, for instance, may bring them safe 

o'er ; 
Or the genius of France (as the Moniteur tells) 
May order balloons, or provide diving-bells. 

Derry down. 

When Philip of Spain fitted out his Armada, 
Britain saw his designs, and could meet her invader ; 
But how to greet Boney she never will know, 
If he comes in the style of a fish or a crow. 

Derry down. 

Now if our rude tars will so crowd up the seas. 
That his boats have not room to go down w^hen they 

please, 
Can't he wait till the channel is quite frozen over. 
And a stout pair of skates will transport him to 

Dover ? Derry down. 

How welcome he'll be it were needless to say ; 
Neither he nor his puppets shall e'er go away ; 
I am sure at his heels we shall constantly stick. 
Till we know he has played off his very last trick. 
Derry down, down, high derry down. 



224 THE roEMs of 



HYMN. 

In Heaven we shall be purified, so as to be able to endure the 
splendours of the Deity. 

Awake, sweet harp of Judali, wake ! 
Retune thy strings for Jesus' sake ; 
We sing the Saviour of our race, 
The Lamb, our shield, and hiding-place. 

Wlien God's right arm is bared for war. 
And thunders clothe his cloudy car. 
Where, where, oh, where shall man retire, 
To escape the horrors of liis ire ? 

'Tis he, the Lamb, to him we fly. 
While the dread tempest passes by ; 
God sees his Well-beloved's face. 
And spares us in our hiding-place. 

Thus while we dwell in this low scene, 
The Lamb is our unfailing screen ; 
To him, though guilty, still we run, 
And God still spares us for his Son. 

Wliile yet we sojourn here below. 
Pollutions still our hearts o'erflow ; 
Fallen, abject, mean, a sentenced race. 
We deeply need a lii ding-place. 



KIRKE WHITE. 225 

Yet, courage — days and years will glide, 
And we shall lay these clods aside, 
Shall be baptized in Jordan's flood, 
And washed in Jesus' cleansing blood. 

Then pure, immortal, sinless, freed, 
We through the Lamb shall be decreed ; 
Shall meet the Father face to face, 
And need no more a hiding-place.* 



A HYMN FOR FAMILY WORSHIP. 

O Lord, another day is flown. 

And we, a lonely band. 
Are met once more before thy throne, 

To bless thy fostering hand. 

And wilt thou bend a listening ear. 

To praises low as ours ? 
Thou wilt ! for thou dost love to hear 

The song which meekness pours. 

And, Jesus, thou thy smiles wilt deign, 

As we before thee pray ; 
For thou didst bless the infant train. 

And we are less than they. 

» The last stanza of this hymn was added extemporaneously, 
by the Author, one summer evening, when he was with a few 
friends on the Trent, and singing as he was used to do on such 
occasions. 

15 



226 THE POEMS OF 

O let thy grace perform its part, 

And let contention cease ; 
And shed abroad in every heart 

Thine everlasting peace ! 

Thus chastened, cleansed, entirely thine, 

A flock by Jesus led ; 
The Sun of Holiness shall shine 

In glory on our head. 

And thou wilt turn our wandering feet. 
And thou wilt bless our way ; 

Till worlds shall fade, and faith shall greet 
The dawn of lasting day. 



THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. 

When marshalled on the nightly plain, 
The glittering host bestud the sky ; 

One star alone, of all the train. 

Can ^x the sinner's wandering eye. 

Hark ! hark ! to God the chorus breaks, 
From every host, from every gem ; 

But one alone the Saviour speaks, 
It is the Star of Bethlehem. 

Once on the raging seas I rode, 

The storm was loud, — the night was dark, 
The ocean yawned — and rudely bloAved 

The wind that tossed my foundering bark. 



KIRKE WHITE. 227 

Deep horror then my vitals froze, 

Death-struck, I ceased the tide to stem ; 

When suddenly a star arose. 

It was the Star of Bethlehem. 

It was my guide, my light, my all. 

It bade my dark forebodings cease ; 

And through the storm and dangers' thrall 
It led me to the port of peace. 

Now safely moored — my peril 's o'er, 
I'll sing, first in night's diadem. 

For ever, and for evermore, 

The Star ! — The Star of Bethlehem ! 



A HYMN. 

O Lord, my God, in mercy turn. 
In mercy hear a sinner mourn ! 
To thee I call, to thee I cry, 

leave me, leave me not to die ! 

1 strove against thee, Lord, I know, 

I spurned thy grace, I mocked thy law ; 
The hour is past — the day's gone by, 
And I am left alone to die. 



i 



228 THE POEMS OF KIRKE WHITE. 



pleasures past, what are ye now 
But thorns about my bleeding brow ! 
Spectres that hover round my brain, 

And aggravate and mock my pain. ^ 

For pleasure I have given my soul ; 
Now, Justice, let thy thunders roll ! 
Now, Vengeance, smile — and with a blow 
Lay the rebellious ingrate low. 

Yet, Jesus, Jesus ! there I '11 cling, 

1 'U crowd beneath his sheltering wing ; 
I'll clasp the cross, and holding there. 
Even me, oh bliss ! — his wrath may spare. 



TRIBUTARY VERSES. 



EULOGY ON HENRY KIRKE WHITE, BY 
LORD BYRON. 

FBOM THE ENGLISH BARDS AND SCOTCH REVIEWERS. 

Unhappy White ! * while life was in its spring, 
And thy young muse just waved her joyous wing, 
The spoiler came ; and all thy promise fair 
Has sought the grave, to sleep for ever there. 
Oh ! what a noble heart was here undone, 
When science self destroyed her favourite son ! 
Yes ! she too much indulged thy fond pursuit, 
She sow'd the seeds, but death has reaped the fruit. 
'Twas thine own genius gave the final blow, 
And helped to plant the wound that laid thee low. 
So the struck eagle, stretched upon the plain, 

* Henry Kirke White died at Cambridge in October, 1806, in 
consequence of too much exertion in the pursuit of studies that 
would have matured a mind which disease and poverty could 
not impair, and which death itself destroyed rather than sub- 
dued. His poems abound in such beauties as must impress the 
reader with the liveliest regret that so short a period was allotted 
to talents, which would have dignified even the sacred functions 
he was destined to assume. 



230 TRIBUTARY VERSES. 

No more through rolling clouds to soar again, 
Viewed his own feather on the fatal dart, 
And winged the shaft that quivered in his heart. 
Keen were his pangs, but keener far to feel. 
He nursed the pinion which impelled the steel ; 
While the same plumage that had warmed his nest 
Drank the last life-drop of his bleeding breast. 



SONNET ON HENRY KIRKE WHITE. 

BY CAPEL LOFFT. 

Master so early of the various lyre 

Energic, pure, sublime ! — Thus art thou gone ? 

In its bright dawn of fame that spirit flown, 
Which breathed such sweetness, tenderness, and fire ! 
Wert thou but shown to win us to admire. 

And veil in death thy splendour ? — But unknown 

Their destination who least time have shone, 
And brightest beamed. — When these the Eternal 

Sire, 
— Righteous, and wise, and good are all his ways — 

Eclipses as their sun begins to rise, 
Can mortal judge, for their diminished days. 

What blest equivalent in changeless skies, 
What sacred glory waits them ? — His the praise ; 

Gracious, whatever he gives, whatever denies. 

24th Oct. 1806. 



TRIBUTARY VERSES. 231 



SONNET OCCASIONED BY THE SECOND OF 
HENRY KIRKE WHITE. 



BY CAPEL LOFFT. 



Yes, fled already is thy vital fire, 
And the fair promise of thy early bloom 
Lost, in youth's morn extinct ; sunk in the tomb ; 

Mute in the grave sleeps thy enchanted lyre ! 

And is it vainly that our souls aspire ? 
Falsely does the presaging heart presume 
That we shall live beyond Hfe's cares and gloom ; 

Grasps it eternity with high desire. 

But to imagine bliss, feel woe, and die ; 

Leaving survivors to worse pangs than death ? 
Not such the sanction of the Eternal Mind. 

The harmonious order of the starry sky, 
And awful revelation's angel breath, 

Assure these hopes their full effect shall find. 

25th December, 1806, 



232 TRIBUTARY VERSES. 



WRITTEN IN THE HOMER OF 
MR. H. K. WHITE. 

PRESENIED TO ME BY HIS BROTHER, J. NEVILLE WHITE. 
BY CAPEL LOFFT. 

Bard of brief days, but ah, of deathless fame ! 

While on these awful leaves my fond eyes rest, 

On which thine late have dwelt, thy hand late 
press'd, 
I pause ; and gaze regretful on thy name. 
By neither chance nor envy, time nor flame. 

Be it from this its mansion dispossessed ! 

But thee. Eternity, clasps to her breast. 
And in celestial splendour thrones thy claim. 

No more with mortal pencil shalt thou trace 
An imitative radiance : * thy pure lyre 

Springs from our changeful atmosphere's embrace, 
And beams and breathes in empyreal fire : 

The Homeric and Miltonian sacred tone 

Responsive hail that lyre congenial to their own. 

Bury, 11th Jan. 1807. 

* Alluding to his pencilled sketch of a head snrrounded with 
a glory. 



TRIBUTARY VERSES. 23d 



TO THE MEMORY OF H. K. WHITE. 

BY THE REV. W. B. COLLYER, A. M. 

O LOST too soon ! accept the tear 
A stranger to thy memory pays ! 

Dear to the muse, to science dear, 
In the young morning of thy days ! 

All the wild notes that pity loved 
Awoke, responsive still to thee, 

While o'er the lyre thy fingers roved 
In softest, sweetest harmony. 

The chords that in the human heart 
Compassion touches as her own, 

Bore in thy symphonies a part — 
With them in perfect unison. 

Amidst accumulated woes 

That premature afflictions bring. 

Submission's sacred hymn arose. 

Warbled from every mournful string. 

When o'er thy dawn the darkness spread, 
And deeper every moment grew ; 

When rudely round thy youthful head 
The chilling blasts of sickness blew ; 



234 TRIBUTARY VERSES. 

Religion heard no 'plainings loud, 
The sigh in secret stole from thee ; 

And pity, from the " dropping cloud," 
Shed tears of holy sympathy. 

Cold is that heart in which were met 
More virtues than could ever die ; 

The morning star of hope is set — 
The sun adorns another sky. 

O partial grief! to mourn the day 

So suddenly overclouded here, 
To rise with unextinguished ray — 

To shine in a superior sphere t 

Oft Genius early quits this sod. 

Impatient of a robe of clay. 
Spreads the light pinion, spurns the clod, 

And smiles, and soars, and steals away ! 

But more than genius urged thy flight. 
And marked the way, dear youth ! for thee 

Henry sprang up to worlds of light 
On wings of immortality ! 

Blackheath HiU, 24th June, 1808. 



TRIBUTARY VERSES. 235 



SONNET TO HENRY KIRKE WHITE, ON HIS 
POEMS LATELY PUBLISHED. 

BY ARTHUR OWEN, ESQ. 

Hail ! gifted youth, whose passion-breathing lay 
Portrays a mind attuned to noblest themes, 
A mind, which, wrapt in Fancy's high-wrought 
dreams, 

To nature's veriest bounds its daring way 

Can wing : what charms throughout thy pages shine, 
To win with fairy thrill the melting soul ! 
For though along impassioned grandeur roll, 

Yet in full power simplicity is thine. 

Proceed, sweet bard ! and the heaven-granted fire 
Of pity, glowing in thy feeling breast. 
May nought destroy, may nought thy soul divest 

Of joy — of rapture in the living lyre, 
Thou tunest so magically : but may fame 
Each passing year add honours to thy name. 

Richmond, Sept. 1803. 



236 TRIBUTARY VERSES, 



SONNET, 

ON SEEING ANOTHER WRITTEN TO H. K. WHITE, IN SEP- 
TEMBER, 1803, INSERTED IN HIS "REMAINS." 

BY ARTHUR OWEN, ESQ. 

Ah ! once again, the long left wires among, 
Truants the Muse to weave her requiem song ; 
With Sterner lore now busied, erst the lay 
Cheer'd my dark morn of manhood, wont to stray 
O'er fancy's fields in quest of musky flower ; 

To me nor fragrant less, though barred from view 
And courtship of the world : hailed was the hour 

That gave me, dripping fresh with nature's dew. 
Poor Henry's budding beauties — to a clime 
Hapless transplanted, whose exotic ray 
Forced their young vigour into transient day, 
And drain'd the stalk that reared them ! and shall 

time 
Trample these orphan blossoms ? — No ! they breathe 
Still lovelier charms — for Southey culls the wreath ! 

Oxford, Dec. 17, 1807. 



TRIBUTARY VERSES. 237 



REFLECTIONS ON READING THE LIFE OF 
THE LATE HENRY KIRKE WHITE. 

BY WILLIAM HOLLOWAY, 
AUTHOR OF THE "PEASANT'S FATE." 

Darling of science and the muse, 
How shall a son of song refuse 

To shed a tear for thee ? 
To us, so soon, for ever lost. 
What hopes, what prospects have been crossed 

By Heaven's supreme decree ? 

How could a parent, love-beguiled. 
In life's fair prime resign a child 

So duteous, good, and kind ? 
The warblers of the soothing strain 
Must string the elegiac lyre in vain 

To soothe the wounded mind ! 

Yet, Fancy, hovering round the tomb, 
Half envies, while she mourns thy doom. 

Dear poet, saint, and sage ! 
Who into one short span, at best, 
The wisdom of an age compressed, 

A patriarch's lengthen'd age I 



238 TRIBUTARY VERSES. 

To him a genius sanctified, 
And purged from literary pride, 

A sacred boon was given : 
Chaste as the psahnisf s harp, his lyre 
Celestial raptures could inspire, 

And hft the soul to Heaven. 

'T was not the laurel earth bestows, 
'Twas not the praise from man that flows, 

With classic toil he sought : 
He sought the crown that martyrs wear, 
When rescued from a world of care ; 

Their spirit too he caught. 

Here come, ye thoughtless, vain, and gay. 
Who idly range in Folly's way. 

And learn the worth of time : 
Learn ye, whose days have run to waste, 
How to redeem this pearl at last, 

Atoning for your crime. 

This flower, that drooped in one cold clime 
Transplanted from the soil of time 

To immortality. 
In full perfection there shall bloom ; 
And those who now lament his doom 

Must bow to God's decree. 

London, 27th Feb. 1808 



TRIBUTAKY VERSES. 239 

ON THE DEATH OF HENRY KIRKE WHITE. 

BY T. PARK. 

Too, too prophetic did thy wild note swell, 

Impassioned minstrel ! when its pitying wail 
Sigh'd o'er the vernal primrose as it fell 

Untimely, withered by the northern gale.* 
Thou wert that flower of promise and of prime ! 

Whose opening bloom, 'mid many an adverse 

blast, [cHme, 

Charm'd the lone wanderer through this desert 

But charm'd him with a rapture soon o'ercast. 
To see thee languish into quick decay. 

Yet was not thy departing immature ; 
For ripe in virtue thou wert reft away. 

And pure in spirit, as the bless'd are pure ; 
Pure as the dewdrop, freed from earthly leaven, 
That sparkles, is exhaled, and blends with heaven ! 



LINES ON THE DEATH OF MR. HENRY 
KIRKE WHITE. 

BY THE REV. J. PLUMPTRE. 

Such talents and such piety combined. 
With such unfeign'd humility of mind. 
Bespoke him fair to tread the way to fame, 
And live an honour to the Christian name. 

* See Clifton Grove 



240 TRIBUTARY VERSES. 

But Heaven was pleased to stop his fleeting hour, 
And bKght the fragrance of the opening flower. 
We mourn — but not for him, removed from pain ; 
Our loss, we trust, is his eternal gain : 
With him we'll strive to win the Saviour's love. 
And hope to join him with the blest above. 

October 24th, 1806. 



TO MR. HENRY KIRKE WHITE. 

BY H. WELKER. 

Hark ! 't is some sprite who sweeps a funeral knell. 
For Dermody no more. — That fitful tone 

From Eolus' wild harp alone can swell, 
Or Chatterton assumes the lyre unknown. 

No ; list again ! 't is Bateman's fatal sigh 

Swells with the breeze, and dies upon the stream : 

'T is Margaret mourns, as swift she rushes by, 
Roused by the demons from adulterous dream. 

O ! say, sweet youth ! what genius fires thy soul ? 

The same which tuned the frantic nervous strain 
To the wild harp of Collins ? — By the pole, 

Or 'mid the seraphim and heavenly train, 
Taught Milton everlasting secrets to unfold, 
To sing Hell's flaming gulf, or Heaven high arched 
with gold ? 



TRIBUTARY VERSES. 241 



VERSES OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF 
HENRY KIRKE WHITE. 

BY JOSIAH CONDER. 

What is this world at best, 
Though deck'd in vernal bloom, 
By hope and youthful fancy dressed, 
What, but a ceaseless toil for rest, 
A passage to the tomb ? 
If flowrets strew 
The avenue, 
Though fair, alas ! how fading, and how few ! 

And every hour comes armed 
By sorrow, or by woe : 
Conceal'd beneath its little wings, 
A scythe the soft-shod pilferer brings, 
To lay some comfort low : 
Some tie to unbind. 
By love entwined, 
Some silken bond that holds the captive mind. 

And every month displays 

The ravages of time : 
Faded the flowers ! — The spring is past ! 
The scattered leaves, the wintry blast, 

Warn to a milder clime : 
16 



242 TRIBUTARY VERSES. 

The songsters flee 
The leafless tree, 
And bear to happier reahns their melody. 

Henry ! the world no more 
Can claim thee for her own ! 
In purer skies thy radiance beams ! 
Thy lyre employed on nobler themes 
Before the eternal throne : 
Yet, spirit dear. 

Forgive the tear [here. 

Which those must shed who Ve doomed to linger 

Although a stranger, I 
In friendship's train would weep : 
Lost to the world, alas ! so young, 
And must thy lyre, in silence hung, 
On the dark cypress sleep ? 
The poet, all 
Their friend may call ; 
And Nature's self attends his funeral. 

Although with feeble wing 
Thy flight I would pursue. 
With quickened zeal, with humbled pride, 
Alike our object, hopes, and guide, 
One heaven alike in view ; 
True, it was thine 
To tower, to shine ; 
But I may make thy milder virtues mine. 



TRIBUTARY VERSES. 243 

If Jesus own my name 
(Though fame pronounced it never), 
Sweet spirit, not with thee alone. 
But all whose absence here I moan. 
Circling with harps the golden throne, 
I shall unite for ever. 
At death then why 

Tremble or sigh ? [to die ? 

Oh ! who would wish to live, but he who fears 

Dec. 5, 1807. 



ON READING HENRY KIRKE WHITENS 
POEM ON SOLITUDE. 



BY JOSIAH CONDER. 



But art thou thus indeed " alone ? " 
Quite unbefriended — all unknown ? 
And hast thou then his name forgot 
Who form'd thy frame, and fixed thy lot ? 

Is not his voice in evening's gale ? 
Beams not with him the " star" so pale ? 
Is there a leaf can fade and die 
Unnoticed by his watchful eye ? 

Each fluttering hope — each anxious fear — 
Each lonely sigh — each silent tear — 
To thine Almighty Friend are known ; 

And say'st thou, thou art " all alone ? " 



244 TRIBUTARY VERSES. 



ODE ON THE LATE H. KIRKE WHITE. 



BY JUVENIS. 



And is the minstrers voyage o'er ? 

And is the star of genius fled ? 
And will his magic harp no more, 

Mute in the mansions of the dead, 
Its strains seraphic pour ? 

A pilgrim in this world of woe, 
Condemned, alas ! awhile to stray, 

Where bristly thorns, where briers grow, 
He bade, to cheer the gloomy way. 

Its heavenly music flow. 

And oft he bade, by fame inspired. 
Its wild notes seek the ethereal plain. 

Till angels, by its music fired, 

Have, listening, caught the ecstatic strain, 

Have wondered, and admired. 

But now secure on happier shores, 
With choirs of sainted souls he sings : 

His harp the Omnipotent adores, 
And from its sweet, its silver strings 

Celestial music pours. 



TRIBUTARY VERSES. 245 

And though on earth no more he'll weave 
The lay that's fraught with magic fire, 

Yet oft shall Fancy hear at eve 
His now exalted heavenly lyre 

In sounds -^olian grieve. 

B. Stoke. 



SONNET IN MEMOKY OF HENRY 
KIRKE WHITE. 

BY J. G. 

"'Tis now the dead of night," and I will go 
To where the brook soft murmuring glides along 
In the still wood ; yet does the plaintive song 
Of Philomela through the welkin flow ; 
And while pale Cynthia carelessly doth throw 

Her dewy beams the verdant boughs among, 

Will sit beneath some spreading oak tree strong, 
And intermingle with the streams my woe ! 
Hushed in deep silence every gentle breeze ; 

No mortal breath disturbs the awful gloom ; 
Cold, chilling dewdrops trickle down the trees, 

And every flower withholds its rich perfume : 
Tis sorrow leads me to that sacred ground 
Where Henry moulders in a sleep profound ! 



246 TRIBUTARY VERSES. 



LINES ON THE DEATH OF HENRY 
KIRKE WHITE. 

ULTB OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 

Sorrows are mine — then let me joys evade, 
And seek for sympathies in this lone shade. 
The glooms of death fall heavy on my heart, 
And, between life and me, a truce impart. 
Genius has vanished in its opening bloom, 
And youth and beauty wither in the tomb ! 

Thought, ever prompt to lend the inquiring eye, 
Pursues thy spirit through futurity. 
Does thy aspiring mind new powers essay, 
Or in suspended being wait the day. 
When earth shall fall before the awful train 
Of Heaven and Virtue's everlasting reign ? 

May goodness, which thy heart did once enthrone, 
Emit one ray to meliorate my own ! 
And for thy sake, when time affliction calm. 
Science shall please, and poesie shall charm. 

I turn my steps whence issued all my woes, 
Where the dull courts monastic glooms impose ; 
Thence fled a spirit whose unbounded scope 
Surpass'd the fond creations e'en of hope. 

Along this path thy living step has fled, 
Along this path they bore thee to the dead. 



TRIBUTARY YERSES. 247 

All that this languid eye can now survey 
Witnessed the vigour of thy fleeting day : 
And witnessed all, as speaks this anguished tear, 
The solemn progress of thy early bier. 

Sacred the walls that took thy parting breath, 
Own'd thee in life, encompassed thee in death ! 

Oh ! I can feel as felt the sorrowing friend 
Who o'er thy corse in agony did bend ; 
Dead as thyself to all the world inspires, 
Paid the last rites mortality requires ; 
Closed the dim eye that beamed with mind before, 
Composed the icy limbs to move no more ! 

Some power the picture from my memory tear^ 
Or feeling will rush onward to despair. 

Immortal hopes ! come, lend your blest relief, 
And raise the soul bowed down with mortal grief; 
Teach it to look for comfort in the skies : 
Earth cannot give what Heaven's high will denies. 

Cambridge, Nov. 1806. 



SONNET 

ADDRESSED TO H. K. WHITE, ON HIS POEMS 
LATELY PUBLISHED. 

BY G. L. C. 

Henry ! I greet thine entrance into life ! 
Sure presage that the myrmidons of fate. 
The fool's unmeaning laugh, the critic's hate, 
Will dire assail thee ; and the envious strife 



248 TRIBUTARY VERSES. 

Of bookish schoolmen, beings over rife, 

Whose pia-mater studious is filled 

"With unconnected matter, half distilled 

From lettered page, shall bare for thee the knife, 

Beneath whose edge the poet ofttimes sinks : 

But fear not ! for thy modest work contains 

The germ of worth ; thy wild poetic strains. 

How sweet to him, untutored bard, who thinks 

Thy verse " has power to please, as soft it flows 

Through the smooth munnurs of the frequent close." 

1803. 



TO THE MEMORY OF HENRY KIRKE WHITE. 

BY A LADY. 

If worth, if genius, to the world are dear, 

To Henry's shade devote no common tear ; 

His worth on no precarious tenure hung. 

From genuine piety his virtues sprung ; 

If pure benevolence, if steady sense. 

Can to the feeling heart delight dispense : 

If all the highest efforts of the mind, 

Exalted, noble, elegant, refined. 

Call for fond sympathy's heart-felt regret. 

Ye sons of genius, pay the mournful debt : 

His friends can truly speak how large his claim, 

And " Life was only wanting to his fame." 



TRIBUTARY VERSES. 249 

Art thou, indeed, dear youth, for ever fled ? 

So quickly numbered with the silent dead? 

Too sure I read it in the downcast eye. 

Hear it in mourning friendship's stifled sigh. 

Ah ! could esteem or admiration save 

So dear an object from the untimely grave, 

This transcript faint had not essayed to tell 

The loss of one beloved, revered so well ; 

Vainly I try, even eloquence were weak, 

The silent sorrow that I feel to speak. 

No more my hours of pain thy voice will cheer, 

And bind my spirit to this lower sphere ; 

Bend o'er my suffering frame with gentle sigh, 

And bid new fire relume my languid eye : 

No more the pencil's mimic art command. 

And with kind pity guide my trembling hand ; 

Nor dwell upon the page in fond regard, 

To trace the meaning of the Tuscan bard. 

Vain all the pleasures thou canst not inspire. 

And " in my breast the imperfect joys expire." 

I fondly hoped thy hand might grace my shrine, 

And Httle dreamed I should have wept o'er thine : 

In fancy's eye methought I saw thy lyre 

With virtue's energies each bosom fire ; 

I saw admiring nations press around, 

Eager to catch the animating sound : 

And when, at length, sunk in the shades of night, 

To brighter worlds thy spirit wing'd its flight, 

Thy country hailed thy venerated shade. 

And each graced honour to thy memory paid. 



250 TRIBUTARY VERSES. 

Such was the fate hope pictured to my view — 

But who, alas ! e'er found hope's visions true ? 

And, ah ! a dark presage, when last we met, 

Sadden'd the social hour with deep regret ; 

When thou thy portrait from the minstrel drew, 

The living Edwin starting on my view — 

Silent, I asked of Heaven a lengthened date ; 

His genius thine, but not like thine his fate. 

Shuddering I gazed, and saw too sure revealed. 

The fatal truth, by hope till then concealed. 

Too strong the portion of celestial flame 

For its weak tenement the fragile frame ; 

Too soon for us it sought its native sky. 

And soar'd impervious to the mortal eye, 

Like some clear planet, shadowed from our sight, 

Leaving behind long tracks of lucid light : 

So shall thy bright example fire each youth 

With love of virtue, piety, and truth. 

Long o'er thy loss shall grateful Granta mourn, 

And bid her sons revere thy favoured urn. 

When thy loved flower " spring's victory makes 

known," 
The primrose pale shall bloom for thee alone : 
Around thy urn the rosemary well spread. 
Whose " tender fragrance," — emblem of the dead — 
Shall "teach the maid, whose bloom no longer 

Hves," 
That " virtue every perished grace survives." 
Farewell ! sweet Moralist ; heart-sickening grief 
Tells me in duty's path to seek relief, 



TRIBUTARY VERSES. 251 

With surer aim on faith's strong pinions rise, 
And seek hope's vanished anchor in the skies. 
Yet still on thee shall fond remembrance dwell, 
And to the world thy worth delight to tell ; 
Though well I feel unworthy thee the lays 
That to thy memory weeping friendship pays. 



STANZAS, 

SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN WRITTEN AT THE GRAVE 
OF HENRY KIRKE WHITE. 

BY A LADY. 

Ye gentlest gales ! oh, hither waft, 

On airy undulating sweeps, 
Your frequent sighs so passing soft. 

Where he, the youthful Poet, sleeps I 
He breathed the purest tenderest sigh, 
The sigh of sensibility.- 

And thou shalt lie, his favourite flower. 
Pale primrose, on his grave reclined ; 

Sweet emblem of his fleeting hour. 
And of his pure, his spotless mind ! 

Like thee he sprung in lowly vale ; 

And felt, like thee, the trying gale. 



252 TRIBUTARY VERSES. 

Nor hence thy pensive eye seclude, 
O thou, the fragi-ant rosemary. 

Where he, " in marble solitude, 
So peaceful and so deep " doth lie ! 

His harp prophetic sung to thee 

In notes of sweetest minstrelsy. 

Ye falling dews, Oh ! ever leave 

Your crystal drops these flowers to steep 

At earliest mom, at latest eve, 
Oh let them for their poet weep ! 

For tears bedewed his gentle eye, 

The tears of heavenly sympathy. 

Thou western Sun, effuse thy beams ; 

For he was wont to pace the glade. 
To watch in pale uncertain gleams, 

The crimson-zoned horizon fade — 
Thy last, thy setting radiance pour, 
Where he is set to rise no more. 



THE EN1>, 



NOTES. 

Page 56. " This is the poem which Kirke White had most 
at heart, and upon which he seems to have bestowed most 
pains. There is great power in its execution." — Southey. 

Page 70. The author thus speaks of this poem in a letter 
to Southey dated July 9th, 1804: — " I have another poem of 
considerable magnitude in design, but of which only a part is 
written, which I am fairly at a loss whether to commit it to 
the flames, or at some future opportunity to finish ; the sub- 
ject is the death of Christ." 

Page 94. "I am not able to do justice to your unfortunate 
friend Gill; the verses on the other side are the work of 
thirty minutes this morning, and I send them to you with all 
their imperfections on their head." — White's Letter to 
Mr. Charlesworth, 1802. 

Page 95. " Do you think calling the Naiads of the foun- 
tains ' Nymphs of Pgeon ' is an allowable liberty ? The allu- 
sion is to their healthy and bracing qualities." — "The last 
line of the seventh stanza contains an apparent pleonasm, to 
say no worse of it, and yet it was not written as such. The 
idea was from the shriek of death (personified), and the 
scream of the dying man." — Letter to Charlesvs^orth. 

Page 135. These verses and those on the following page 
were composed extempore in the presence of a friend, who 
doubted White's ability to write poetry ; he thus alludes to the 
circumstance in a letter to his brother Neville : — " My good 
friend Ben Maddock found mea,ns to get me to write verses 
extempore, to prove whether I could tag rhymes or not, which, 
it seems, he doubted." 

Page 141. This Ode was printed as an introductory poem 
to the volume containing " Clifton Grove," &c. 



314-77-7 



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